Starting Over
by Riss - uscmam
Summary: Voyager has returned after six years in the Delta Quadrant however, Tom Paris never made it onto Voyager. He joins Lt Commander B'Elanna Torres and Lt JG Harry Kim on the project to refine the drive for fleetwide use as their test pilot. Will sparks fly?
1. Chapter 1

**_Detailed Summary - Voyager has returned after six years in the Delta Quadrant by using a Coaxial Drive (drive from Vis-A-Vis) to traverse the final 40,000 light years. Tom Paris never made it onto Voyager. He was detained at Auckland and forced to serve the remainder of his sentence. Finally out of prison, Tom joins Lieutenant Commander B'Elanna Torres and Lieutenant Junior Grade Harry Kim, just back in the Alpha Quadrant, on the project to refine the Coaxial Drive for fleetwide use, as their resident test pilot. Will it be tension or sparks that fly as the former Maquis/former Starfleet joins the project?_**

**_Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun. While Paramount owns the characters, the ideas are mine, so please ask permission before taking them elsewhere, and always keep my name attached._**

**_A/N - Thanks to Lady Arreya and starrylaa for their beta._**

* * *

Starting Over

By Riss

"Personal Log: Thomas Eugene Paris, Stardate 54250.9. It feels nice to finally be home. It's been seven years since I've been free to wander around the Alpha Quadrant. More if you want to count the years I was drunk all the time. Things sure have changed a lot around here. But one thing always stays the same: even though it's been almost nine years since I've been in this house, it looks exactly the way it did the day I stormed out of here, vowing never to return. I never thought I would be coming back here. Home. My father's house. We finally made our peace about three years ago. After over three years in prison, Mom dragged him along on one of her visits. She told him she was too weak to go by herself, so he had to come along.

For the first time in years we actually talked. At first it was just hello and how are you, but even that was something. After all, we hadn't spoken to each other at all in years. And by the last year I was in there we were having conversations about the future and whether I was interested in joining Starfleet as a civilian pilot. It wasn't a miraculous change, but by the time Mom was too weak to come every month, he was coming to see me on his own.

I guess I should place this log in context, considering I haven't done a log in about nine years. I was released from prison exactly four days, five hours, and fifteen minutes ago. I served my entire seven year sentence, without a day of leniency. They even changed the probation I was supposed to have after being released into additional time in Auckland. Dad thinks that someone on the rehab commission had a grudge against either him or me to be so immobile on the sentence. The first couple of years were hard but after the Dominion wiped out the Maquis, tensions calmed down at Auckland. Everyone, both Starfleet and Maquis, was losing their friends in the war. It brought us all together. I still wasn't really popular, being considered a traitor to both sides, but life improved a little.

On the home front, Mom's doing better. She's still weak from the Zando virus, but the new treatment seems to finally be working. She has danced at two of her children's weddings and maintained, even during the worst of her disease that she would be dancing at mine. Stuck in prison with years to go, it seemed impossible. But now Josh and the other doctors are giving her years rather than months. My sisters were both married while I was inside. As I walked out between the doors of Auckland, I was greeted by two nieces and a nephew. Both my brothers-in-law seem to be really great guys. Josh, with his neurological virus specialty fits well with Moira's studious nature. Apparently they met in medical school, though they didn't get close until Mom started showing symptoms. Now, they have a two year old son with a little girl coming in about three months

Kathleen is still as wild as I remember. She may have been the oldest, but that only meant she broke the rules first. Marrying Ethan has done little to change her. Their advanced research in ancient archeology has them traipsing all over the Alpha and Beta quadrants. Their twin daughters are five years old, speak at least three different languages fluently, though it might be four by now, and have spent over half their lives outdoors. Last night the five of us ended up camping out in the backyard, since we all thought the beds were too soft.

Possibly the biggest news in the quadrant is the return of the Starship Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant last month. Still in command was Captain Kathryn Janeway with the former Maquis Captain Chakotay, as her First Officer and chief pilot. I even heard about it in Auckland the afternoon they came back. They had been presumed lost for four years until they made contact from the Delta Quadrant a little over two years ago. It seems they finally perfected an advanced coaxial drive a few months ago, cutting the final 40 years of their journey down to a few months.

It looks like I'll be getting a chance to play with the drive. Dad told me yesterday that Starfleet wants to hire me on as a civilian test pilot for the Voyager project. He took me over to one of the flight simulators the day after I was released, as a kind of getting out present. He submitted my scores for consideration to the piloting division, and even after seven years without flying, I was in the 95th percentile. While not as good as I used to be, it was still the best score by a non-Starfleet officer, and one of the best they'd ever seen. There was heavy damage to Voyager while in flight, so they need a good pilot while they work out the problems with the coaxial drive. Apparently they were only able to use it a few minutes at a time and it took weeks to reset, so Starfleet is hoping to overcome that problem. Flying a ship that jumps through folds in space is quite an upgrade to trudging through life in prison.

I almost ended up on that journey. Captain Janeway actually came and offered me a job as an observer while she looked for Chakotay's Maquis base. However, someone on the rehab commission changed their mind just as I was boarding the shuttle for my transfer to Deep Space Nine. Despite what my father later told me was pulling in every chit she could, Captain Janeway had to leave for Deep Space Nine without me. I never found out why they stopped me from going, but it was probably a good thing because I needed to do some more growing up before getting out of that place.

For a long time I used to wonder what my life would have been like if I had joined Voyager. She said I would have been an observer. After we learned a few years ago that they were still alive, my questions resurfaced with even more unanswered puzzles. Would I have been the observer the entire trip, or would I have been integrated into the crew like the Maquis? Would I have even survived the journey to the Delta Quadrant and back? My first few years in prison were pretty bad, but on a ship where I helped lead them to the Maquis, I can't even imagine the hatred.

Anyway, I get to go to work tomorrow at Starfleet Headquarters. The message Dad brought back from Admiral Sedek, head of Starship Research, says I'll start out by studying Voyager's systems. Guess all that engineering stuff I studied while at Auckland will come in handy. I'll be reporting to Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres for a briefing.

The name sounds familiar, and I wonder if she could possibly be the woman I met back in the Maquis. Beautiful and spirited, she rejected me constantly and called me a pig, making her contempt for me extremely obvious. Even though I got nowhere with her, over the years, I found myself thinking about her.

Over the last seven years as I've had a lot of time to think about the type of woman I'm looking for. While at the Academy I usually went out with whoever my dad would approve of and since the accident, I was more interested in getting sex than having a conversation. I've realized that physical attractiveness doesn't mean everything. I need someone who can keep up with me and keep me on my toes.

I used to needle B'Elanna back in the Maquis because I enjoyed the way she would turn it around and come right back at me. I flirted with her, but never really tried to get her into my bed because I knew I wasn't good enough for her. But if I'm honest, she was the star of a lot of my dreams while at Auckland. I do hope it is the same woman. Even if all I can be is her friend, I have a feeling that she is someone I want to make an important part of my life. After all, it'd be nice to have someone, other than my sisters, keep me on my toes.

Back when I first arrived at Auckland I was so bored. I started out there just fixing whatever they handed me, but that was too tedious. After about a year I became good friends with Harry Higgins, a former Starfleet engineer, who decided he could make a lot of money working for the Maquis. Starfleet caught him just after he remodulated a weapons array to destroy the entire Cardassian population of Rossic VI, so he's stuck in there for life. He arrived the day after my shuttle flight was canceled and immediately caught my attention. I was half drunk on the homemade brew that one of the other prisoners was selling and he still was laughing at my jokes. We became friends when he stood up for me against the Maquis.

But, he was as bored as I was in that place. After we dissected every B-movie we could remember from the 20th century, we decided to start trying to build some of the sci-fi concepts. While most of them wouldn't work, about six months ago we installed a prototype of a drive which uses the same principles as the slipstream drive which Voyager seemed to have used to cut ten years off their journey prior to working on the coaxial drive. We actually called it hyperspace drive, in honor of one of the better sci-fi movies from that century.

Last I heard it was still sitting at the Daystrom Institute undergoing testing. Maybe now that I don't have that darn anklet they'll let me take it for a spin. Too bad Harry won't be able to join me. He helped me stay sane in that place. He was my friend even when all the Maquis told him to stay away. I'm not going to miss Auckland at all, but I'll definitely be going back to visit him.

Harry, Harry, Harry... One minute he is acting like the most naive person in the entire quadrant and the next he's smuggling in anything and everything on the prison's banned list of substances. If you wanted anything from mini-holoprojectors to warp engines, he could get it for you. He didn't even care that I was a traitor, no matter what anyone else said about me.

But as much as I'll miss Harry, it feels great to be on the outside. The first night out I took Dad with me to my old hangout, Sandrine's. I couldn't believe how much he and Sandrine had in common. We spent hours just talking about obscure French history. Turns out that while at the Academy Dad dated a girl who did a semester in Marseilles and knew the previous 'Sandrine' pretty well. He even used to hustle people in pool, making more than enough to pay off his hefty bar bills.

I realize now that Dad didn't want me to be just like him. He wanted me to avoid the mistakes he made. Now we understand that we were both wrong. I didn't respect how hard he tried and he could only see that I was making the same mistakes he did. I may not become the next Admiral in the family, but today when I thanked him for helping me fly again, he had a smile on his face I hadn't seen since I was ten years old.

The afternoon that the guards laughed in my face as they told me my flight to DS9 was canceled, I wanted my life to end. How could I have anything to look forward to as I was returned to the cell where I would spend the next six years of my life? But now, while I wouldn't want to relive them, I can now say they have changed me for the better. If I had gone with Voyager I would probably still be the selfish, arrogant pig I was when Captain Janeway visited me in Auckland. Without Harry I don't know…"

Tom abruptly stopped and turned toward the door with a glare as a female voice suddenly filled the room.

"So how was the sex at Auckland?"

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_A/N - Hope you're enjoying this story. It's been a number of years in the making. Please review, and let me know if you have any suggestions._

_**I will be posting a timeline of Voyager episodes where Tom was an important character as they occured in this story in my profile. I hope to have it up within the next week.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun. While Paramount owns the characters, the ideas are mine, so please ask permission before taking them elsewhere, and always keep my name attached._**

**_Thanks to Lady Arreya and starrylaa for their beta._**

_**This story contains discussions of life in prison. The hope is that by the 24th Century prisons will not be the same as they are today, but remember, criminals are still criminals. There is short mention of an attempted rape in this chapter.**_

**_Finally, I have updated my profile with the episode list of Voyager as it occurs in the Starting Over universe._**

Starting Over – Chapter 2

_Previously:_

"_So how was the sex at Auckland?" Said a female voice._

_*****_

"Kathleen! Have you ever heard of knocking?" Tom yelled. "Computer, halt personal log."

Kathleen was a carbon copy of Tom, just in female form. Tall with short, light brown hair and those same knowing blue eyes. Right now she was also sporting a patented Paris smirk.

"So…" Kathleen said.

"None of your business," Tom shot back.

"I never thought I'd see the day that Tommy wouldn't go on for hours about his romantic conquests," she said.

"It's not like Auckland was a resort," Tom said as he got up and pointed to the door. "Now get out."

"I'm sorry," said a chagrinned Kathleen. "I just came in to talk to you."

Tom continued to stare at her angrily.

"I know it was hard. That's why I came," she said quietly. "I figured there were things that you couldn't talk about with anyone else."

The anger faded from Tom's face as he plopped down on his bed. "I know you've gotten close to Dad, but we both know that Dad doesn't react very well to confinement. I'm sure there are a lot of things you can't share with him." Kathleen said as she slowly sat down next to Tom. "We used to share everything. I want you to know that I'm still here for you."

For a minute he just looked at her. Studied her face and especially her eyes. As with all Parises, Kathleen's eyes would reveal things that the carefully crafted Paris mask would hide.

"You don't want to hear it," he started slowly, dropping the façade of carelessness. "Most of it is just boring routine. Plus, haven't I told you a million times to stop calling me Tommy?"

"Not recently," she replied with another smirk. "If that were true, you wouldn't have earned a few advanced engineering degrees while in there and Dad wouldn't be bragging about how you and Harry may have invented the greatest thing since warp drive."

"I already told you guys those stories over the last few days," Tom started evasively, not daring to look into his sister's eyes. She was at least as gifted as he was at reading them. "Not much else to tell except the boredom."

"Oh really. Then why don't you have any stories before your friend Harry showed up? It must have been absolutely dead without him there," she continued. "And you don't mention any Starfleet-Maquis problems, which is very surprising since there were plenty of public protests back then. Wasn't Auckland where they sent most of the Maquis who received sentences of more than a few years?"

"Yes," Tom answered, avoiding her eyes.

"So…" she started. "How were the tensions in Auckland?"

"It was a prison, so the guards kept things under control," he responded quietly, still not looking at his sister. "Then once the Dominion War started, most of the prisoners realized that we were all on the same side now. After that, there was a lot more mixing between Starfleet and Maquis prisoners, especially the Maquis who left Starfleet. Of course you also had those who committed crimes against the Federation who weren't from either group, but they usually kept to themselves."

She looked hard at him before stating, "I was asking how it was for you when you arrived."

Tom stood up and walked away from Kathleen. Suddenly the view of the backyard seemed very interesting. He answered, "It wasn't too bad. After all, I made it though."

"Then why won't you talk about it. Were you raped?" she asked quietly.

"No!" Tom replied quickly, turning to look his sister in the eye before continuing quietly, "but it wasn't like they didn't try."

Tom stood at the window for a minute, looking at her, trying to figure out how far she was willing to push him. After finishing his appraisal he returned to the bed and sat all the way on it, with his back against the headboard. Finally he said to her, "You're not going to let it go at that are you? You might as well get comfortable. It was a long year."

Kathleen mirrored his pose on the bed and gave him a quick squeeze around the shoulders. "I won't pass anything on to Mom and Dad that you don't want me to," she said quickly. "I just don't want you to end up like Dad did after the Cardassians held him. Hell, you know exactly what I mean since you bore the brunt of his anger and frustration. Once you got sentenced he finally entered counseling."

"I know; he told me after he'd been visiting for a while," Tom replied. "I'd often wondered whether I would have made a different decision at Caldik Prime if I hadn't been so afraid of his reaction. Finally I realized that I can't change the past, only how it affects me. It took me quite a few years at Auckland to come to that conclusion."

"I have to remind myself of that every time the girls get on my nerves. Just because he used to do it a certain way, doesn't mean I have to react the same way towards my children. Most days it works, but I think parents are born required to yell at their kids at least once in a while," Kathleen finished with a grin.

"I've had some counseling inside, so I've placed most of this in perspective," Tom hedged again.

"But I know you. Heck, I've known you since before you took your first breath. Who do you think talked to Mom's stomach all the time? After all, I needed a sibling who would listen to me, since Moira never did," Kathleen finished with a laugh.

"Your next major failure in life," Tom said, joining in the fun.

With a glare she answered, "You're stalling."

"I know," Tom replied. Quietly he continued, "It was a tough time. As I said, I was never raped. The guards and the millions of video monitors kept that to a minimum at Auckland. The only times that the guards didn't seem to make it in time was for those convicted of crimes against children or the occasional rapist. Otherwise they never let it get that far. After all, the Federation does have some standards, even in prison."

Tom stopped to take a long breath. "I think if I wasn't as well known outside of prison as I was, I might have had more problems. They didn't want to risk me getting too hurt because the publicity would risk their positions. Working as a Federation prison guard is a good job when you're stationed on Earth. However, most of the prisons aren't on such temperate worlds."

"I think I was close behind the rapists on the most likely to be despised by the other prisoners." Tom stopped again, gathering his courage. He glanced sideways at his sister to gauge her reaction. She was keeping her face carefully blank.

Not sure of her reaction, he decided to continue anyway. "I guess I'm lucky that I spent so much time getting into trouble between Caldik Prime and when I was arrested. Walking around as drunk and as mad as I was, I got myself into a lot of bar fights. I already knew how to fight against multiple pissed-off opponents and still come out alive, and usually with the latinum I sharked off them intact," Tom said trying to lighten the mood but Kathleen didn't bite.

He took another long breath and continued. "The guards never let very large groups come after me. Too much danger of me getting seriously hurt. But I definitely would have to fight two or three off on a regular basis. Most of the time they would come break it up before anyone had to spend the night in the infirmary, but not always."

"Within a few months, the other inmates decided I just wasn't worth the pain. As punishment, most minor injuries were not healed on those the guards determined were the attackers. Since I was always outnumbered, I was almost always considered the victim. Most of the time they got it right," Tom said with a wink. "So after each fight I would get healed, and they would spend the next few days dealing with black eyes, bruised ribs and such. More than one fight and you also had to spend the night in solitary."

"It surprised me at first that the Maquis were the first to stop physically harassing me, but I realized that most of them had been in their own share of bar fights. After all, they were usually the ones who sent me to the infirmary for extensive treatment. They could recognize that unless they got a bigger group together, I would stay on my feet until the guards could get there. And if the guards got word that they were organizing anything big they would decide it was a perfect time to reprimand me for my part in the fights and I'd be out of circulation in solitary until they could figure out who was involved."

Tom stopped for a minute and Kathleen decided to clarify things. "So they would only come after you to beat you up?"

Tom wasn't happy to have to respond. He answered mechanically, "They tried to do quite a lot, they never got any further. The first time they came after me, I wasn't prepared. I was so angry that I was there; I didn't pay enough attention and watch my back. It was four that time. I managed to disable two of them, but the other two trapped me against the wall. When I realized that they weren't trying to just beat me up, but were trying to rip my jumpsuit off, I exploded. I got such a rush of adrenaline that I was able to push them away and start running. They tripped me as I was running way, but then the guards appeared. If the guards hadn't decided I needed to be protected, I might have lost, but as I said, I was too much of a public figure."

"After that, if four or more came after me, the guards were there in seconds," Tom said trying to crack a smile, but failing miserably. "They usually held back for a while if it was less, since they saw I could defend myself. I guess they felt I deserved it."

"As I said, after a few months the Maquis backed off. It took a little while longer for the Starfleeters. But finally I wasn't being assaulted for just being there. Sometimes I'd run off at the mouth a little, and have some trouble," Tom continued.

"The day you don't get in trouble with your mouth is the day you're no longer breathing," Kathleen laughed. Tom joined in and they spent a minute chuckling.

Sending a smile Tom's way, Kathleen continued. "So is that when Harry showed up?"

"Kinda," Tom replied. "Actually, first Captain Janeway came to offer me a chance to go after the Maquis. I would have ended up with Voyager in the Delta Quadrant."

"What happened? Did you tell her no?" Kathleen asked.

Incredulously Tom answered, "No way! I told her yes. Even though I wasn't being beaten up every couple days, prison is still prison. No one would really talk to me and the routine will kill you. I was going to be an observer on the mission. I was supposed to lead them to the Maquis bases, not that I really knew any since I was only in for a couple of weeks, but it was getting me out of prison. They were going to help with my outmate review, which I took to mean that I might actually get out in only a few more years rather than the four to six I was looking at. I was all packed, with my tiny bag of belongings and in the shuttle waiting for clearance. Then the call came in. I was to be taken back inside."

Shaking his head, Tom continued, "The warden himself called me into his office that evening to tell me that despite all of Captain Janeway's requests the rehab commission had decided that I was too much of a risk to leave prison. According to him they believed that I was actually a Maquis plant, in place to learn the identities of Starfleet undercover agents. Not only was I not being allowed to leave, but all my probation time had been converted to prison time. Instead of getting out in four years with good behavior, I now had six more years."

"Oh my god," Kathleen exclaimed.

"That's what I said," Tom replied, "except mine was a little more slurred since I was already drunk on some moonshine one of the other prisoners cooked up."

"Did you find out the real reason, since obviously that wasn't true?" Kathleen asked.

Tom shook his head before answering. "I never got more of an answer than that. After Dad and I made up, he looked into getting the decision reversed. Rehab commission members' names and the meeting minutes are all sealed, so we couldn't even investigate if someone was out to get me."

"I'm thinking you had a guess," Kathleen hazarded.

"Hell yeah, I had six years to think about it," Tom said. "I'm betting it was someone connected to either Caldik Prime or someone Dad screwed over during his many years of service. Someone decided to get a little revenge by making my life a little more miserable. I can't really complain too much, after all I got myself into it in the first place."

"How'd you do that?" Kathleen asked.

"I shouldn't have joined the Maquis," Tom replied. "I didn't care about their cause."

Kathleen looked at him curiously. "Why did you join?"

"I had to fly," he stated simply. "I couldn't get any other work. Every opportunity had dried up in the couple of years since Caldik Prime. I thought I would die if I didn't get to fly again. Look where it got me, seven years without even a simulator."

"You obviously didn't spend the next six years drinking your sentence away. What happened?" Kathleen asked.

"Harry Higgins fell into my life," Tom said with a little smile. "You have to know a little about Harry. He's a former Starfleet engineer, who decided he could make plenty of latinum working for the Maquis. He was becoming a Maquis legend, despite being a mercenary, for all the damage he was causing the Cardassians. All the Maquis respected him."

"The night after I got left behind he was released into the general population. Apparently he hears a little commotion over in the area where the Maquis are hanging out and comes to check it out. There I was, drunk as can be, entertaining my new friends with the world's worst stories. Of course they were only my new friends as long as I was supplying the credits to buy more fixings for the moonshine, but at that point I just wanted to be drunk."

"He laughed at my jokes and helped me back to my bunk that night." Tom continued with another little smile. "The next morning he came by and told me that the Maquis would be leaving me alone from then on. Apparently he had heard of me while he was in Starfleet and the Maquis and thought I was a good pilot who made a mistake or two. He figured that if I hadn't been sent on that suicide mission when I was caught by Starfleet, I would have been a Maquis legend for my flying, so he made them lay off me. He said that none of the locations I'd been to while in the Maquis had been made, so I wasn't a traitor to them. We became best friends shortly after that."

"We got into so much trouble," Tom said shaking his head. "We would build these crazy inventions based on things we would see in bad 20th century vids."

"Don't tell me you hooked someone else on that crap," Kathleen interjected. "How anyone can spend more than five minutes watching it, I don't understand."

"You just don't appreciate art," Tom answered hotly. "It takes talent to be that silly. Anyway, Harry would come off as the most respectable guy, until he was caught smuggling a Holo-projector in from the outside. He is the only thing I'm going to miss about that place," Tom said with a smile.

"You know the rest," Tom finished. "I don't think Mom and Moira needed to hear about the fights."

"You still didn't answer my first question," Kathleen stated. "I never thought I'd see the day Tommy Paris doesn't talk about sex."

Tom turned on Kathleen threateningly. "I'm not telling you again. DO NOT call me Tommy!" he yelled. "I've never liked that name and I will not tolerate it, especially from you," he stated as he stared her down.

"Sorry Tom. Bad habit of a big sister," she said looking a little sorry. "But you're still avoiding my question, were you and Harry an item?"

"God, not you too," Tom said shaking his head. "I think everyone in the place, except for the guards who monitored all those damn cameras, thought we were lovers. They didn't understand that he might as well have been my baby brother. I'm not about to sleep with you, Kathleen -"

"Thank goodness," she cut in.

Tom rolled his eyes in response. "So why would I sleep with him? That combined with the fact that I like women."

"So, you were there for seven years. You could not stay celibate for seven years." She continued with a smile, "I don't even think you could last seven days."

"Ooh, did you bet on that? Because I could use the credits right now," Tom shot back. Shaking his head, he continued. "Everyone just figured since I didn't take anyone as my lover, he must have been satisfying me. They didn't realize I've had enough meaningless sex in my life, particularly in the two years after Caldik Prime when Ricky dumped me, to provide me with at least seven years of fantasy material," Tom said with a blush creeping up his face. Taking a deep breath, he continued. "Since I've never been attracted to men, there's not much that could ever come out of sex in a men's prison. Besides, if Harry and I had been an item, I would have had a problem with the many lovers he was taking during my time there. Boy, I'm going to miss Harry always falling in love with the guys who were just looking to release a little tension. He had the worst luck."

"I can't believe I'm telling you this," Tom started before biting his lips and stopping.

"Continue," Kathleen said. "I'm still in shock over the fact you lasted seven years. I know I couldn't."

"Well yeah," Tom teased. "If anyone had a more active sex life than me in her early adulthood, it was you."

"And now I'm a happily married woman," she said with a grin.

Tom cut in with, "Happily satisfied, I'm betting."

Blushing all the way to her ears, Kathleen said, "You were saying something."

"Oh yeah," Tom continued slowly. "Well, Harry and I actually talked about it once. I knew he liked guys from the very beginning, and I asked him straight out if he liked me. He said I wasn't his type. He liked his men with dark skin and dark hair. Besides, he said, he could tell that I just wasn't interested. He had seen a couple of the other guys hit on me, and I hadn't even noticed. Between that and the way I would talk about the girls we'd see on the vids, he figured I was only into women. He said in his case, he didn't have anything else to look forward to, but I only had a few more years in prison. If I had found a way to make it that long, it wasn't worth hooking up with any of the guys there."

"Wow," Kathleen started, a shocked expression on her face. "Thomas Eugene Paris hasn't had sex in over seven years."

As she finished the sentence, Tom's face was turning bright red. It took just one more word from Kathleen for him to hide his head in his hands, "When?"

Muffled between his hands, she had to strain to make out the words, "It was Dad's fault."

"How can you blame your sex life on our father?" she asked. "He used to skin us alive saying that all our fun would come back to haunt us later."

Tom turned on her then, defiant. "You'd think I'd make something like that up?" Taking a deep breath, he continued. "The day I got out, first thing Dad surprises me with was a trip to HQ to try out the simulators. I've been dreaming of flying again since the second they locked the tractor beam on my Maquis shuttle. Afterwards he tells me it wasn't just for fun, that he was submitting it to the flight testing center. He knew of at least one opening for a test pilot, and they were willing to consider a civilian."

"I don't think I've hugged Dad that hard since I was five years old and took my first simulator ride. He told me that we were meeting everyone for dinner, but that afterwards he wanted to take me out anywhere I wanted to celebrate."

"It being Dad, I wasn't quite sure how to take that," Tom said, shaking his head.

"Oh, no," Kathleen broke in. "Where did you take him, and what kind of trouble did you get into."

"Nothing to bad," Tom replied with a crooked smile. "I decided to take him to Sandrine's. I had wanted to go anyway to thank Sandrine for her good advice. It got me thought some tough situations both in the Maquis and in Auckland. So I brought Dad."

"As we walked over to the bar, Sandrine turns to us and gives us a huge smile." Tom stopped and shook his head. "And then, she says 'Bienvenue! Thomas, Owen.' I think I almost had a heart attack right there."

"She knew Dad!" Kathleen whispered in shock.

"Apparently our sainted Dad used to hang out there during his academy days and had been back since to meet the 'new' Sandrine," Tom said with a grin. "He was quite the pool shark."

Kathleen started giggling and soon Tom couldn't help but join in. A few minutes later, she motioned with her hands for him to continue the story.

"He had mentioned during visiting hours that he was so hard on me to try to keep me from making the same mistakes he did, but I didn't realize until that moment how true his statement was," Tom said with a shake of his head.

"We spent a couple hours talking with Sandrine, playing pool and having a grand time. I lost the first pool game to him," he said with a smile. "After all there were no pool tables in prison, but I did win the next one. At that point someone came up and challenged the winner. Dad said he had to go and take care of something really quick, so why didn't we play. I thought he had to check in with Mom or something. He was gone about fifteen minutes. I had won the first game and his girlfriend and her friend joined us for a doubles game."

Kathleen was shaking her head. "How long until you got her out of there and into bed?"

Swatting her shoulder for her comment, Tom continued. "It wasn't like that. She started in on me first. I'm out of practice, and it took me a few minutes to catch on." Tom stopped and glared at Kathleen before continuing, "Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm human. I had some desires that needed to be taken care of and she was just looking for some fun for the evening. Besides, when Dad came back he said that he needed to go home. On the way out he dropped a hotel key in my pocket and told me that lunch was at the house at noon."

"So, have you been out every night since?" Kathleen asked as she wiggled her eyebrows.

"No! It's not really like that. It was fun, but something was missing," Tom said quietly.

"Tom Paris wants to get to know a woman before sleeping with her," Kathleen said, shocked. "I never thought I would see the day."

"Hey, I was engaged, remember, before you even met Ethan." Tom stopped a moment to think. "I guess I want more."

"Ricky was the wrong girl for you," Kathleen said. "Thank god that ended."

"I know that now," Tom said, "But it was nice for a while. Maybe someday someone will want an ex-Starfleet, ex-Maquis, former drunk and former felon."

"You really are a good guy, Tom," Kathleen said seriously. "Any girl would be lucky to have you."

"Thanks." Tom looked around the room, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Look at the time; I have my new job first thing tomorrow," he exclaimed.

"So drink extra coffee," she shot back.

"I'm trying to make a good impression. I need to get some sleep," Tom said as he pushed Kathleen to leave his bed. Looking embarrassed, he continued, "Now the stupidest question, what do I wear tomorrow? I've never had to worry about that before. Uniforms are so much easier."

"Tom!" Kathleen said as she was leaving. "We're in town for another couple days. I'll see you tomorrow after your shift."

"Night Kathleen." Tom said as he started for his dresser to get ready for bed. Contrary to when she entered the room, Tom actually heard the door close as she left.

* * *

_**Next week - The Voyager cast joins this story. Any guesses on first words out of our favorite engineer's mouth?**_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun. While Paramount owns the characters, the ideas are mine, so please ask permission before taking them elsewhere, and always keep my name attached._**

**_Thanks to Lady Arreya and starrylaa for their beta._**

**_Finally, I have updated my profile with the episode list of Voyager as it occurs in the Starting Over universe._**

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 3

The next morning was cool and slightly foggy, as weather in the Bay Area often is. Surprisingly Tom was up and on his way a few minutes early for as he wanted to make sure he started his new job on the right foot. After all, there weren't that many civilian test pilots working for Starfleet. They preferred to keep that type of job in-house. He knew his father had pulled a lot of strings to get him the position. But he also knew that his father felt he needed to do that for his son. While they had made up during his sentence, he knew his father felt terrible for all the things he had put his son through, especially after he was held prisoner by the Cardassians, so this was his way of making it up to him.

So Tom was walking to his new job, five days after leaving Auckland. He had finally settled on a simple brown tunic with dark trousers underneath. He figured he should look as serious as possible since he'd be working with Starfleet engineers, who probably had the image of him as he was seven to nine years ago. He didn't even want to think about how the former Maquis might see him. At least Janeway should stand up for him, since she had tried to recruit him six years ago.

Tom's newly updated orders stated he would be working directly for Lieutenant Commander B'Elanna Torres and Lieutenant Junior Grade Harry Kim. The project leader was listed as Starfleet's newest Admiral, Kathryn Janeway. He would not be the only civilian working on the project. Seven of Nine, a former Borg drone with the birth name Annika Hansen, was also assigned to the project. Of course she came back with the Voyager crew from the Delta Quadrant and was one of the key participants in the mission.

The project was located in a cluster of research labs at the Presidio adjacent to Starfleet Academy. They had the entire top floor of the eight story building, which included a Shuttle Bay for them to work on live craft as well, which was where his part came in as their resident pilot. Apparently most of the engineers from Voyager had stayed to work on the new drive. Many of the other crewmen on the journey were taking additional leave time or had accepted other assignments. A number of Starfleet engineers had transferred to the project, so Tom wouldn't be the only new face. Today was the first day of work for all of them, since the Voyager crewmembers were just returning from their mandatory month of leave.

A short transport ride from his house and he was outside the Academy grounds. Prior to walking onto the grounds Tom stopped for a minute to take a few deep breaths. It had been nine years since he had last walked on those grounds, marching off with his head held high despite the fact he had just been kicked out of Starfleet for lying on his report for Caldik Prime. After a few more calming breaths he stepped into a new era of his life.

Head held high again, he walked across the lush grounds headed for his new job. A few cadets turned their attention his way, since it was relatively rare for civilians to cross campus, but after a glance they returned to their prior tasks. The visitor obviously knew where he was going so he didn't need assistance. It felt far different from his last walk across these grounds when everyone had stared.

In only a few minutes, Tom was at the front of the research lab building. As with most of the buildings in the headquarters area, there was a cadet standing watch at the front entrance. Confidently, Tom walked right up to him to request entrance. Since he had not yet reported for duty, he did not have his identification card, so he just hoped his dad was right and he was on the visitors' list.

"Good morning, sir. May I help you?" said the helpful cadet.

"Yes," Tom replied. "My name is Tom Paris: I should be on the visitors' list."

The cadet consulted his PADD and replied, "I need your thumb print and then you can enter."

Tom gladly gave his thumb print, relieved that things were going his way today, and followed as the cadet opened the door for him.

"Turbolifts are to the left, sir," the cadet said as he went back to his post.

"Thank you, Cadet," Tom said with a smile. He walked into the turbolift, and it dawned on him that he was going to start the next phase of his life. "Level eight." As the turbolift rose, he realized that it was about time his life got back on track.

The turbolift opened into a wide open engineering work space. There were three separate work sections, each with their own complete set of workstations, so different groups could work on the same project simultaneously, but still easily consult with each other. Additionally there were hallways leading to conference rooms, private work areas and a Holodeck for simulations as well as the Shuttle Bay.

Currently the main room had about twenty people already gathered there. Three people were working at one of the workstations, while the rest were standing around talking. As Tom stepped out into the room, everyone except the three working turned to look at him, and unlike on the way across campus, they continued to stare. Most of them seemed to stare just because he was the only civilian currently in the room. A few, however, gave him the exact same looks he remembered getting from the Maquis on his first day at Auckland.

Falling back on his family training, Tom made sure he had his professional face on and scanned the room for the highest ranking officer. Since his meeting with then Captain Janeway was burned into his memory, she was fairly easy to spot. She was one of the three at the workstation. With a tight smile, Tom threaded his way over to the workstation to report in to his new boss.

As he approached, the quiet of the room finally alerted the three busy workers that something was amiss, and they looked up to check it out. Admiral Janeway was the first to speak, greeting him with a smile. "Mr. Paris, I'm glad you could join us."

"Thank you Admiral," Tom replied with a genuine smile. "I'm looking forward to joining the project."

Turning to her colleagues, the Admiral introduced them. "These are the leads on the project, Voyager's former Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Commander B'Elanna Torres, and Voyager's former Chief Operations Officer, Lieutenant Harry Kim. Tom Paris is joining us as our resident test pilot, though from what I hear, he's caught the eye of a few people at Daystrom for his propulsion designs."

Still not used to compliments on anything besides piloting, Tom blushed a little before replying, "Thank you ma'am. My engineering friend did most of the theoretical work; I just helped him make sure it would actually be able to function in flight."

During this conversation, which everyone in the room was straining to hear, two very different expressions appeared on Harry's and B'Elanna's faces. Harry was very obviously impressed by the man standing in front of him. On the other hand, B'Elanna did not look very happy to be standing next to him.

B'Elanna was the first to speak, still looking like she would rather be anywhere else. "I trust that you'll stay sober and try not to cause too much trouble, Paris."

Tom turned toward her, and was struck again by her beauty. She was the perfect combination of brains, beauty and fire. After a moment his brain restarted and he responded to her, mostly successful at keeping his smirk off his face. "Commander Torres, it is nice to see you again. I was very happy to hear that you, as well as Captain Chakotay made it home from the Delta Quadrant. I'm looking forward to working with you again. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your team."

The last sentence was greeted by a grimace on B'Elanna's face, clearly indicating that she wasn't consulted regarding his placement on the project.

Harry decided to break the tension a little and so he welcomed Tom to the team. "Mr. Paris, I look forward to working with you." However, he was very curious, so he continued, "Where do you and B'Elanna know each other from?"

Tom looked at B'Elanna, giving her the chance to respond, but she didn't even meet his eyes. "I was in the Maquis as Captain Chakotay's pilot on the Liberty for a few weeks prior to getting caught in a Starfleet ambush while out on a shuttle mission."

"Caught in an ambush," B'Elanna interrupted with a snort, finally turning to face him long enough to shoot him a glare. "More likely he returned to Starfleet to pass on the information he gathered."

Tom took a couple deep breaths, determined not to strike out at her for her misinformation. The fire he remembered from his time in the Maquis was definitely still a part of her. Before he could think of what he could say to defuse the situation, Admiral Janeway stepped in. She had been quietly observing the interaction between them and decided to set the record straight. The last thing she needed was any reawakening of the long dead Starfleet-Maquis tensions in her crew.

"Mr. Paris was not a Starfleet spy," she said. "He spent seven years in Auckland for refusing to divulge any Maquis base of operations. He has paid for any past mistakes in full. I chose him to be on this project as a civilian contractor because he is the best fit for this project. He is not only one of the best pilots out there, but the slipstream drive he helped design is at least as functional as the one we used a few years ago."

Despite only meaning to include those at the workstation, the rest of room had clearly been straining to hear the conversation. There were a few murmurs of approval from the engineers who had either worked on the slipstream drive or taken the time to study it.

Stopping for a moment, she took in the whole room, which had filled up with the rest of the team while they had been talking. Raising her voice to make sure everyone could hear without straining, she continued speaking to B'Elanna. "I know you, Chakotay and many of the others have a history with him. However, you all learned to work together on Voyager. I would hope you show Mr. Paris the same courtesy."

With a curt nod, B'Elanna acknowledged Janeway's implied order. Whether she liked him or not, he was working on the project.

Taking another long look around the room, Admiral Janeway stepped toward the center and addressed everyone. "Good morning. As most of you already know, my name is Admiral Kathryn Janeway. I am in charge of this project; however, your day to day supervisor is Lieutenant Commander B'Elanna Torres. Serving as her assistant on the project is Lieutenant Harry Kim." As she introduced Harry, she turned and gave him a little wink. He had related to her during the journey that he figured he would be stuck as an Ensign for the rest of his life.

Private joke over, she continued. "First I want to say welcome back to all of the former Voyager engineers. I hope you all enjoyed your leave. If, however, you find you need additional time to acclimate to the Alpha Quadrant, please see Commander Torres for additional leave time. To those of you new to the project, welcome. We are excited to have some new minds on the project. Even though my office is in another building, I'll be keeping an eye on this project." To which many of the former Voyager crew laughed. "If you have any questions, please let me know. Commander Torres, they're all yours," to which those same former Voyager crew let loose with a number of loud groans, which B'Elanna just shook her head at.

B'Elanna took the Admiral's spot in the center of the room before continuing. "Thank you Admiral," she told her as she exited the room. "Today we are splitting up into groups. Those of you who know the drive already will remain here with Lieutenant Carey. I want you to go over the calculations that Starfleet loaded into these workstations and make sure they got it right. After that, make sure our simulation programs were transferred accurately as well."

Starting toward the hallway to the conference room, B'Elanna continued, "The rest of you are coming with me for Coaxial Drive 101. Harry, give Paris the basics and have him check out the shuttles."

As the rest of the groups either got to work or filed out, Tom walked over to Harry. "I guess I'm with you Lieutenant Kim. Lead on."


	4. Chapter 4

**_Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun. _**

**_Thanks to Lady Arreya and starrylaa for their beta._**

**_Finally, I have updated my profile with the episode list of Voyager as it occurs in the Starting Over universe._**

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 4

_Previously:_

_As the rest of the groups either got to work or filed out, Tom walked over to Harry. "I guess I'm with you Lieutenant Kim, lead on." _

_*******_

"Yes sir," Harry said leading them toward the Shuttle Bay, "Right this way."

Tom shook his head at the "sir" and decided to do something about it before anyone else got the wrong idea of how to address him. "I'm not Starfleet. Why don't you call me Tom?"

"OK, Tom," Harry replied, "I'm Harry."

"Nice to meet you Harry," Tom replied with one of his genuine smiles. "I'm guessing by the shock on your face earlier that the Lieutenant is a new rank."

"Just promoted yesterday," Harry said as the walked into the Shuttle Bay. Inside the Shuttle Bay were three shuttles. A Type 6 shuttle, the Sacajawea, a Class 2 shuttle, the Darwin, and hidden out of view behind the others, the Delta Flyer. Harry led the way to the Type 6 shuttle. "Let's start with the Sacajawea. I thought I was going to be the oldest ensign in the fleet by the time we got back."

"Not possible," Tom replied with a smile as they entered the shuttle. "That honor goes to the lucky ensigns on the U.S.S. Bozeman. They were caught in a time loop for ninety years with Captain Montgomery Scott before the Enterprise released them. I doubt the Admiral would have made you wait that long."

"I'd forgotten all about them," Harry said as they sat down at the controls. "How do you know about the Bozeman? I thought that was classified."

"When has classified ever stopped good fleet gossip from going around?" Tom joked as he ran the ship through diagnostics. "It was the talk of the Exeter before Starfleet and I parted ways."

Harry looked shocked as he turned to Tom. "You were in Starfleet? What happened?"

Tom took a deep breath and turned to Harry. "I'm surprised you haven't heard the story yet. I would have thought that the gossip would have been going around as soon as I was offered this position."

Tom turned back to the screens before continuing. "I was a Lieutenant, Junior Grade on the Exeter. I was taking a shuttle down to Caldik Prime. I made a miscalculation and the shuttle went down. The flight recorder was destroyed in the accident. I made a second mistake when I didn't file a complete report. Instead of listing pilot error as the cause of the crash, I put down that it was a computer malfunction."

"Why?" Harry interrupted.

"I could say I was young and stupid. But the real answer is that I couldn't believe I had made a mistake," Tom said shaking his head. "I flew my first simulator at age five. I flew my first shuttle at eight and was on Nova Squadron starting my first year at the academy."

Tom closed out the computer on the Sacajawea and stood up. "This shuttle checks out. Let's look at that Class 2 next." He led Harry out the door and headed to the next shuttle. "When the shuttle crashed three people died, including my best friend. I didn't even have a reprimand from Starfleet after I submitted my original report. I was sent back to Earth for two weeks of recovery and leave."

The two walked onto the Darwin and began pre-flight. "I couldn't sleep or eat. I realized I couldn't lie, so I submitted a revised report, this time accepting responsibility for the miscalculation. I was immediately ordered to headquarters for a disciplinary hearing and was cashiered from Starfleet. My dad was so disappointed with me. I couldn't stay in that house and deal with him, so I left."

A slight beep captured Tom's attention and he double-checked the diagnostic logs. "There is a slight variance in the plasma flow rate."

Harry started hitting buttons on his console. "I see it, flushing the plasma injectors now."

"Plasma flow readings now approaching normal." Tom said as he started examining his computer readouts even more closely. "This shuttle is equipped with the coaxial drive, isn't it?"

"Yes," Harry answered. "It was the inspiration for all the additions to Voyager. It took us over two years to figure out how to translate the technology from a shuttle-sized object to Voyager."

"I'd like to see the flight logs from the original modifications," Tom said before continuing his story. "I went to Marseilles for a little while, where I had done my physical training while at the Academy. Then I had to get away, so I went to Bajor to see if I could get some piloting work on ships near the wormhole. I did that and other runs until my reputation, and my habit of drowning my problems with a little alcohol and such, caught up with me and people refused to take me on as a pilot. Finally, Chakotay needed a pilot so badly that he hired me on to fly for the Maquis. I was with the Liberty for about a month before I was sent off on my first solo mission. Of course, my luck was holding and there was an ambush waiting for me. I only had time to wipe the shuttle memory before I was captured by Starfleet."

"I still don't like the plasma flow rate on the port nacelle. I'll want to see how she does on a test flight," Tom said as he closed out the computer on the Darwin. "And if they'll let me, I'd like to see the coaxial drive in action."

Continuing on from his story, Tom said, "From Commander Torres' reaction earlier, I'm guessing the Maquis from Voyager believe that I defected. I may not have joined the Maquis because I believed in their cause, but I wasn't about to betray them either. Instead, Starfleet convicted me of a number of crimes against the Federation since I refused to lead them to any bases or contacts and I spent time in Auckland."

As Tom stepped toward the back of the shuttle, he continued. "Let's take a look at the last shuttle."

As he turned towards the Delta Flyer, he stopped and stared as he finally got a good look at her. "Oh my, what type of shuttle is that?"

"We built it in the Delta Quadrant," Harry answered proudly. "It's the Delta Flyer."

"I think I'm in love," Tom said as he slowly circled the Flyer. "The hull isn't titanium, is it?"

"No," answered Harry. "We used a tetraburnium alloy for the hull. It is also equipped with unimatrix shielding and Borg-inspired weaponry. It's also a more pilot-friendly craft for manual flying. We've had to fly without anything but thrusters and visual scanning far too many times, so Commander Chakotay, excuse me, Captain Chakotay, insisted on large viewports and putting the pilot alone in the front of the craft."

"She's beautiful," Tom said in awe as they came up to the entrance. "She's everything Starfleet usually doesn't build. I never thought I'd see a Starfleet hot rod."

"That's exactly what Commander Tuvok said we shouldn't be building," Harry said with a smile. "But without an endless supply of new shuttles, we needed one that would stand up to the rigors of the Delta Quadrant. This is actually the Delta Flyer II. We sacrificed the first one to infiltrate the Borg."

"Sounds like a good reason to give up one shuttle," Tom said as he entered the Flyer. "She's got more storage capacity than a typical shuttle."

"We put in a flexible cargo area as well as a work area," Harry said as they entered the main control area. "The Flyer was built so that it could operate independently from Voyager, if necessary. Of course the larger size made it very difficult to operate solo, but we still had the other shuttles if we needed them for that purpose."

"All she needs is some tactile interfaces and she would be perfect," Tom said dreamily.

"Tactile interfaces?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Tom answered as he started the pre-flight. "Like a steering yoke or levers, so that I can feel her movement. Between inertial dampers and buttons on control panels, it's hard to feel the craft move. She is definitely made to fly."

"So where were you assigned before this?" Harry asked.

"Auckland," Tom answered as he spun around in the pilot's chair to look at Harry, curious of his reaction. At Harry's confused look he continued. "I just finished serving my sentence five days ago."

"Then where did you build the slipstream drive that the Admiral mentioned?" Harry asked, looking a little puzzled.

"We designed and built a scale model at Auckland," Tom answered as he returned to the controls. "My friend Harry Higgins and I spent almost six years doing nothing but discussing and putting together different ideas based on the concepts dreamed up for old Earth Sci-Fi movies. We actually called it a hyperspace drive, but, according to Starfleet engineers, it is almost identical, though on a smaller scale, to the slipstream drive that Voyager developed and used a few years ago. The only problem with ours is that we couldn't scrounge up any fresh Benamite crystals."

"We had a pretty hard time finding some ourselves. We only found enough for the one test run," Harry answered. "How did you get this job?"

"It helps to have your father as the head of the Pathfinder project," Tom answered.

"Your dad is Admiral Paris," Harry clarified.

"Yup," Tom answered. "The way he tells it, once the decision was made to continue work on the coaxial drive, all he did was let Admiral Janeway know that I was available and what I had worked on in the last few years. The day I got out of Auckland, we went to the simulator complex at headquarters, and I got 95th percentile on my first run behind the wheel in seven years. I guess between two admirals pushing for me, they let me on the project as a contractor."

The last diagnostic beeped. Tom continued, "Too bad, she checks out perfectly."

"Why is that too bad?"

"I would have loved to take her out for a spin," Tom answered as he shut down the console, staying in his seat but rotating to face Harry. "She's in perfect shape, not a single problem with any of her systems. I think we should adapt her next. She's the most likely to be able to withstand the stress from the subatomic particles without further modification."

"So you know all about the coaxial drive?" Harry asked.

"I know the theory behind it. I do know that there were substantial differences between getting it to work on a small shuttle and moving Voyager through space," Tom answered. "The specifics of Voyager's use were too classified for my dad to be able to get me a copy, until I was officially checked into the project. Which reminds me, I'm supposed to get some type of badge for the building, since I'm a civilian."

"B'Elanna mentioned she'd have them for you and Seven later today," Harry replied. "Where'd you learn coaxial drive theory?"

"Advanced subspace geometry," Tom explained. "It's the one course at the Academy where I actually paid attention. I wanted to know what to expect from subspace and any ways that I could get around faster. I had wanted to be a test pilot for Star Fleet, but my dad didn't think it was a good career move and I was stationed on the Exeter. It's hard to believe that after all the mistakes I've made, I finally have my wish."

Tom stood and headed toward the exit. "Let's get out of here. Any more time in the pilot's chair and I may try to fly her out for a little joyride. It's been a while since I've been able to really fly, and she would definitely let me do that."

"The Flyer is definitely a fun ride," Harry said with a smile. "I've been on it through transwarp and on our test of the slipstream drive. Let's head back to the main room and I'll show you the specs on the coaxial drive for Voyager."

With a final pat on the hull of the Flyer, Tom followed.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun. _**

**_Thanks to Lady Arreya and starrylaa for their beta._**

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 5

_Previously:_

_With a final pat on the hull of the Flyer, Tom followed. _

_*****_

As they started toward the door of the Shuttle Bay, Tom asked, "What was the first thing you did once you got off the ship on Earth, after the welcome home party?"

Harry smiled as he answered. "I met up with my parents and they took me home for a nice home-cooked dinner, just us. Then they had Libby over for drinks after dinner."

"Libby?"

"My fiancé, er, ex-fiancé, girlfriend," Harry stumbled.

"I'm guessing you were engaged when you went on the mission to the Badlands," Tom added helpfully.

"Yes, we were living together in San Francisco prior to the mission," Harry replied. "She actually still has the apartment. We've been talking and seeing if we want to try dating again."

"Wow," said Tom. "She waited over six years for you?"

"No," Harry said as he blushed.

"And you didn't wait for her either," Tom guessed.

"We thought we were seventy years from home," Harry said defensively. "Actually it was a time-stream anomaly that threw me into a different timeline, one where I didn't get on Voyager, which made me realize it was time to move on. The entire crew had been declared dead, so I figured once I returned to the correct time-stream that it was time to move on with my life."

"Time-stream anomalies, engaging the Borg, slipstream, coaxial drive," Tom said in awe as they walked into the main room. "Sounds like you guys had an exciting six years or so."

"It was definitely a wild ride," Harry replied. "I don't think anyone in this room will dispute that."

Only the former Voyager engineers were in the main room. They all looked up as they walked into the room. However, they all remembered the Admiral's earlier speech and weren't about to get caught defying her implied order to play nice with the new guy. Instead they quickly found more interesting things to do with the consoles in front of them.

Harry led Tom over to an unoccupied work station and brought up the original specs for the coaxial drive. "Since you like interesting stories, you'll love how we got this technology."

"I'd love to hear it," Tom said as he started looking at the shuttle specs and logs.

"The ship we got the technology from literally fell out of subspace on top of us," Harry started. "The only warning we had was the folds in space buffeting the ship. Then a shuttle reappeared in normal space, but the drive wasn't shutting down. Instead the drive was heading for an overload."

"How'd you keep space from collapsing in the explosion?" Tom asked, and then continued answering his own question. "A symmetric warp field would have contained the instabilities."

"That's exactly what Commander, er-Captain Chakotay said, and it worked," Harry said, impressed that Tom had guessed it as well.

"I'm guessing someone else paid attention in the advanced subspace geometry class," Tom said with a laugh. "How did you overcome the particle instabilities of the coaxial induction drive?"

"Captain Chakotay helped Steth, the pilot of the shuttle, figure it out," Harry replied. "They ended up installing a polaric modulator to filter out the instabilities. He said it was like a carburetor in the cars they had on his home colony. Anyway, he finishes up with Steth's ship and we send him on his way, or so we think. After all, in the Delta Quadrant, nothing went as planned."

"Suddenly Captain Chakotay isn't really acting like himself," Harry continues. "He's missing shifts, drinking while on duty, and gouging himself on a big steak dinner."

"Chakotay's a vegetarian," Tom interrupts. "He doesn't touch anything that was once breathing, even replicated. I made the mistake of ordering hamburgers for both of us to eat at our first meeting. I think that was part of the reason he hated me so much."

"The final straw was when he attacked the Captain," Harry said. "He ended up in Sickbay, with the doctor unable to wake him. Shortly after, the coaxial shuttle reappeared with Steth and Daelen, claiming that they were in fact Chakotay and Steth in the wrong bodies. The Captain appeared not to believe them but then left Voyager in a shuttlecraft, the Darwin which already had the coaxial drive installed. At that point, Commander Tuvok requested 'Chakotay,' who told of a conversation they had a few days ago, and he let them chase after the 'Captain.'

Obviously we got everyone switched back to their own bodies in the end," Harry said. "Afterward the Captain said it was just another day in the life of Starfleet officers. One of the favorite sayings on Voyager was 'weird is part of the job.' I think everyone on the ship died in one reality or another."

"Definitely sounds like an interesting ride. Much more interesting then my last six years," Tom said as he looked up from the specs. "By what factor does hull stress increase with the increase in size of the vessel?"

"We found out it's actually a stepped process," Harry replied, typing some commands into the workstation. "This graph represents the various relevant ranges, each with their own factor."

"Now I understand why it took two years to figure the technology out," Tom said.

"Actually," a new voice broke in, "The delay was due to insufficient attention to the project."

Harry turned around to greet the new arrival. "Good morning, Seven. B'Elanna told us you wouldn't be here until this afternoon."

"The doctors at Starfleet Medical were especially efficient on this set of procedures," Seven replied. "I did not see the need to delay my arrival until after the lunch break."

Harry decided introductions were in order. "Tom, this is Seven of Nine. Seven, this is Tom Paris."

As Harry was doing the introductions, Tom held his hand out to Seven. She shook his hand and he gave her a welcoming smile.

"You are the civilian test pilot on the project, formerly of Auckland Penal Colony," Seven said.

Tom smiled at her directness and replied, "And you are the civilian engineer, formerly of the Borg. I look forward to working with you."

Seven's only reply was a slight nod, but for her that was considered acceptance.

"So, Seven, how many more implants were they able to remove?" Harry asked. "I notice they were able to remove the one on the right side of your face."

"With the Doctor's assistance they were able to remove three more implants this week," Seven replied. "They anticipate that over the next three and a half months they will be able to remove all but three external implants. Mr. Paris, those particular calculations would result in the destruction of Voyager."

"They would if I was looking at a ship Voyager's size," Tom replied. "I was actually looking at which range a smaller Starfleet deep space vessel might fall into. Those would be the first vessels that Starfleet would want to equip with the coaxial warp drive."

"Are you looking to equip a Prometheus class starship?" Seven asked.

"To be honest, I'm not sure," Tom replied as he brought up the specs on the Prometheus. "This is the first chance in nine years I've had to look over Starfleet's roster of new ships. Though, from the encryption of information on the Prometheus class of ships, I doubt I'm allowed to look at them."

"Step aside," Seven said.

"Wait, Seven," Harry interjected as he placed a hand on her arm to attempt to stop her. "You can't go breaking Starfleet encryptions now that we're back on Earth."

"Why?" Seven asked. "I've done it many times before."

"Remember how we discussed the differences when you decided not to join Starfleet after we got back," Harry explained. "They may pull all your access to their systems if you don't follow the rules."

"Starfleet is inefficient," Seven replied.

Tom started laughing. Everyone, including those returning from the meeting with B'Elanna stared at him.

"Well it's true," Tom said, finally controlling himself. "I think there is an Admiral at headquarters in charge of what gets programmed into the food replicators on new starships and one for artwork in crew quarters."

"You're not serious," Harry asked.

"Of course not," B'Elanna answered for Tom while glaring at him.

"Okay, I'm not so sure about the artwork, but Admiral Christopher was in charge of replicators," Tom said. "The man must have hated tomatoes, because he couldn't get any dish right that had them as a primary ingredient. While on the Exeter I wrote several complaint letters asking for improvements, but his secretary always said he was too busy to listen any complaints from a lieutenant, junior grade."

"But you didn't have six years of leola root," B'Elanna responded, calmed a little by his explanation. "Even Seven used to avoid it."

"Despite its superior nutritional content, it was inedible," Seven said.

"Sounds like the stuff they used to pass off as food at Auckland," Tom added. "I'm sure you guys must have gorged yourselves on fresh food from home since you got back. I know I feel like I've put on several pounds in the last five days due to my mom's home cooking. Though there's this amazing Italian place only a couple blocks away from here that makes you feel like you transported across the ocean."

"I'm told," B'Elanna said to the gathered staff, "that the food replicators down in the cafeteria are pretty good. However, if you want to head out of the building, you can. Just be back in one hour. We still have a lot to cover in Coaxial 101, and I want the specs verified before you leave this evening."

"Do you have those badges for Tom and Seven?" Harry asked, once he caught B'Elanna's attention. "I'd love to try that place out."

Quickly walking into her office, B'Elanna grabbed the two badges and handed them out. "Just don't be late."

"Can you tell me how to get there, Tom?" Harry asked.

"I'll do one better. I'll show you. The owners are friends of my parents, so we should be able to get us a table and quick service," Tom said before he turned toward the women and smiled invitingly. "How about you join us Seven, B'Elanna?"

"I require sustenance at this time," Seven replied. "I will join you."

"I really should double check numbers on the workstations," B'Elanna started, obviously not comfortable joining them.

"Come on, Maquis," Harry interjected, not letting her get away with hiding. "Joe was good enough to work on this stuff on Voyager, but now you don't trust him?"

"I remember a time when you were sweet and innocent, Starfleet," B'Elanna said as she followed them to the turbolift, clearly unhappy about joining them but unable to think of a good excuse. "What happened?"

"More than six years and multiple hazards of the Delta Quadrant may have affected his behavior," Seven answered. "Perhaps he requires a trip to Starfleet Medical to examine this malfunction."

As they stepped onto the turbolift, Tom joined B'Elanna and Harry in laughter over Seven's joke. He realized that he was well on his way to making friends with another person named Harry, and that B'Elanna wasn't glaring at him constantly anymore. While he liked the idea of both these things, he thought that the second might be even more important to him than the first.

* * *

**_I'm hoping next week's update will be on time, but one of my beta's is on vacation and I'm not sure she will have a chance to read it before next Tuesday. If I end up being late, I will send a teaser out via PM next Tuesday to anyone who reviews this chapter._**

**_Finally, I have updated my profile with the episode list of Voyager as it occurs in the Starting Over universe._**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun. _**

**_Thanks to starrylaa for their beta._**

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 6

The walk to the restaurant for lunch turned quiet after the hysterics of the turbolift. It was actually Seven who broke the uneasy silence.

"Could we not just order food from the replicators?" Seven began. "What is the purpose in journeying to another place to ingest your food?"

"Didn't you get any fresh food on Voyager?" Tom questioned.

"Neelix liked to spice everything he cooked with Leola Root," Harry answered. "It kind of ruined the effect of any fresh gathered food."

"This from the man who used to have thirds of his Pleka Rind Casserole," B'Elanna said with a laugh. "Seven prefers her meals to be efficient, taste is a secondary concern."

"You obviously haven't had a properly home cooked meal," Tom said as he turned toward Seven. "La Bella Italia makes an amazing marinara sauce. Between the fresh herbs they use and the homemade pasta, you'll feel like you've died and gone to heaven."

"How can eating inefficiently prepared food can kill you and transport you to a mythological place. The saying that humans come up with are illogical."

"Seven," Harry began as Tom started laughing.

"And 'Resistance is Futile' is logical," Tom choked out between laughs.

"It's a figure of speech," B'Elanna interrupted. "He's attempting to justify dragging us away from work and across town to this restaurant."

"I don't need to justify anything plus it's just another block," Tom replied. "The food will more than vindicate my colorful words. I can guarantee no one will leave unsatisfied."

"And how will you back that up," B'Elanna responded with a glower. "I seem to remember you used to boast about a lot of things, none of which you were able to back up."

"I only boasted about two things while I was in the Maquis, and I never had any complaints about either of them. After all you know from personal experience about one of them." After a glare from B'Elanna, Tom continued with a wink, "If it wasn't for my flying skills I would have been captured long before I was able to get off a distress signal and you never would have been rescued from the Terikof Belt."

"Are you going to put up your latinum to defend that ego of yours?" B'Elanna shot back.

"How is a monetary unit able to be used for defense?" Seven asked.

"I'm guessing you did an amazing stand up comedy routine for the ship's talent show," Tom said with another laugh as they walked into the restaurant. "And yes, I'll agree to that bet, if you guys agree to a truly home cooked meal with me. My sister is in town for another couple days, and she makes the world's greatest tomato soup. I'll check with her tonight, but why don't you all plan on coming over for dinner tomorrow?"

"That sounds delicious," Harry replied as they reached the hostess stand.

Turning to the hostess, Tom smiled in a greeting. She was actually one of the owners of the restaurant. A well dressed woman in her forties with light brown hair and eyes. She returned the smile with one of her own and a kiss on Tom's cheeks before addressing the group. "I don't see you for seven years, and now twice in a week. Good afternoon, Signor Paris."

"Good afternoon, Signora Bianchi," Tom replied, "I was a little tied up, but I promise to visit often now."

B'Elanna rolled her eyes at his words as Signora Bianchi continued. "Four? I've got just the table for you," and she led them to a private table in the back. Handing them their menus she continued as they sat down. "Isabella will be right out to serve you. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Wonderful," Tom replied. "We are a little pressed for time as Commander Torres wants us back to work within the hour. I'll have an iced tea to drink."

"About time someone tries to keep you in line," she returned with a smile. This time it was Harry who rolled his eyes. "Not a problem, as long as you promise to return again soon. It's great seeing you again. And for the rest of you?"

"Water," said Seven.

"Coke," said Harry

"Coffee," said B'Elanna.

"You should bring Libby over with you to dinner tomorrow," Tom said to Harry, before encompassing the others in his reply. "You can all bring someone if you would like. It's not like my parents don't have the room, though I think they'll be out at a conference the rest of this week."

"You're staying at home with your parents?" B'Elanna sniped.

"Why not?" Tom replied with a smirk. "I'm sure Harry here spent some time with his parents since you got back last month."

"I did," Harry said, and then quickly tried to break the tension again. "So Seven, are you going to ask Chakotay to join you?"

"If he is available I will request his presence," Seven replied. "On Voyager, bets were usually settled using replicator rations. What would the forfeit for the bet you made be here on Earth?"

"It can be anything, Seven," Tom said. "When I win, I want to take the Delta Flier out for a test of its warp drive."

"I don't trust you. I just finished rebuilding her, and I'm not doing it again." B'Elanna replied after a moment of shocked silence at his request for forfeit.

"It's been nine years since I've severely damaged a shuttle," Tom answered. "I've learned my lessons well."

A pretty young woman carrying a tray of drinks came to the table. With a large smile she addressed the table, though her attention was only on Tom. "My name is Isabella and I'll be your server today. Who ordered the coffee?"

B'Elanna raised a hand to indicate her choice and it was put in front of her.

"The water?"

"I requested the water," Seven answered and it was placed in front of her.

"The coke?"

"I did," Harry said and she handed it to him.

"You must have ordered the iced tea," Isabella said to Tom as she gave him a big flirtatious smile and placed her hand on his shoulder after putting down his glass. "Now what would you like, sir?"

For his part, Tom seemed to ignore her attempts at flirting. She was too young and not his type anymore. Plus he had his eye on another lady in the room. He instead shifted positions to dislodge her hand and addressed the rest of the table. "Ladies first, Seven, have you decided?"

"One order of the eggplant parmesan, with a house salad," Seven stated.

When B'Elanna did not immediately follow up with her order, Tom asked her with a smile, "Do you need help deciding Commander Torres?"

Not wanting to admit that she was contemplating the fact that if this had been seven years ago Tom would have had the waitress sitting in his lap by now rather than ignoring her, B'Elanna just shook her head before addressing the waitress. "I'll have the chicken marsala." Attempting to find a rational explanation she decided that maybe he didn't like women anymore after seven years with only men.

"Harry, what's your pleasure?" Tom asked.

"I'll have the fettuccine alfredo."

"And I'll have the lasagna," Tom said as he finally looked at the waitress for a moment as he handed her his menu.

Turning his attention back to B'Elanna and ignoring the departing waitress, he asked her, "So, Commander Torres, not that I believe there is any chance I will lose this bet, what is your request for a forfeit? I only have two rules, nothing illegal and I will not resign from this project."

Fighting a smirk, B'Elanna answered. "Damn, you took all my good options away."

"As much as I would love to make you happy at this moment," Tom drawled, continuing with a wink. "I couldn't stand to not see your beautiful face or hear your shrill orders for another seven years."

B'Elanna fixed him with a glare, though the side of her mouth tried to rise in a smile, as she realized he was flirting with her. He hadn't flirted with anyone else today, man or woman, but he was trying to flirt with her. Figuring it was just a momentary lapse she ignored it, and focused back on the conversation though she quickly wished that she hadn't.

As Harry tried to smother his laughter, Seven interjected, "The Commander's voice is not shrill. Though I have heard the engineers say that her bark is tame compared to her bite. I have seen her break a jaw, but not bite."

Harry immediately stopped laughing and both he and B'Elanna turned red at Seven's comment.

"There must be one hell of a story behind that to make a Klingon blush," Tom said with a grin. He really liked that color on B'Elanna and resolved that he was going to get the story from her eventually. "Do you care to share, or will I need to bribe one of the former Voyager crew?"

For a minute no one said anything. B'Elanna was demonstrating that it was possible for a half-Klingon to turn purple with embarrassment and Harry was closely examining the table for any flaws. Still staring at the table Harry replied. "If there was a story to that, it would be locked under medical privilege and so much security that even Seven would have a hard time unraveling."

"So I guess I'm breaking out the good stuff at dinner, because I love that color purple on you Commander Torres," Tom replied, trying to hide his own blush that he actually said that out loud. He continued, trying to not demonstrate how interested he was in the answer, "So, do I need to prepare for five or six for dinner, Commander?"

Still embarrassed and a little angry, B'Elanna shot back, "Who said I'd ever voluntarily agree to be in your presence again, Paris?"

Trying to hide his disappointment at her words and tone, Tom came back at her a little sharp as well, "If I disgust you that much, feel free to leave right now Torres. I'm sure you can find something edible from the replicators at the building. Though, you'll automatically forfeit our little bet since you didn't even stick around to try."

"Unlike you, I don't cut and run at the first sign of trouble," B'Elanna shot back, earning a dirty look from Tom, then continued with a smirk as she finally figured out how to get Tom back. "I'll hang around only so I can collect from you because I've got the perfect punishment for you. Your forfeit will be no talking during work hours unless it is required for the project. That includes kissing up to Harry or flirting with my people."

"Since I'm going to win and won't have to worry about it, I accept," Tom replied, happy that apparently she didn't seem to want to see him flirting. He then continued a little more confidently, "I would like for you to join us for dinner tomorrow. My nieces will be there so I promise to be on my best behavior."

"Come on Maquis," Harry said, "Have you taken any time to just relax since we got home? I seem to remember having to drag you kicking and screaming out to see the real Sandrine's last week for Chakotay's party."

"Sandrine's in Marseille?" Tom asked. At Harry's nod, he continued. "I love that place. I took my dad there the first night I was out, figuring I'd have a little fun and shock the Admiral. Turns out he used to be a pool shark there during his Academy days."

"Sounds like Admiral Janeway," Harry said. "First night that Chakotay opens up the Sandrine's program on the Holodeck she shows up and wins the pool tournament. So Maquis, are you coming?"

"It'd be nice to see Chakotay again," B'Elanna replied. "But if Paris starts trying to show me his etchings, I'm leaving. I got enough of that from that pig at Sandrine's."

"I don't have any etchings," Tom said while smirking at B'Elanna, happy that she would agree to spend any time with him outside of what was necessary for the job. "I might make a legitimate offer to look at my specs for the hyperdrive we built, but I don't have a death wish, so it will be purely in a professional capacity. I made it out of Auckland without losing any body parts, so I not about to goad you into trying to cut any off."

"If you keep your hands to yourself," B'Elanna said, "We won't have a problem."

"Yes ma'am," Tom replied with a delighted smile as the food arrived at their table. Again he ignored the flirting waitress, instead focusing his attention on the table, especially the fiery one he was interested in. If he wasn't mistaken, she had actually seemed interested when he mentioned showing her the drive specs.

The rest of lunch was spent almost in silence enjoying the delicious food. No one wanted to stop eating long enough to talk.

Seven was the first to break the stillness of contented noises only. "There is a difference between Neelix's cooking and this food. The pleasure from the taste of the food does provide a significant benefit to consuming it."

Tom looked a little confused, so Harry enlightened him. "In Borg-speak that is very high praise for the food, and I certainly agree."

With a smile, Tom turned to B'Elanna for her opinion. It took a minute as she was inhaling her food and not seeming inclined to take the time to stop and speak. Finally she answered his implied question.

"I'll check with Admiral Janeway for clearance. Harry and Seven will accompany you on the flight. I have full override approval of the flight plan and any deviations will result in an unfavorable report to the Admiral."

The huge smile that graced Tom's face clearly showed his appreciation. "Thank you, I can't wait to take her out. As long as you are getting clearance for a flight, we need to take the Darwin out for a test flight as well. The plasma flow rate was off by a half a percent even after a flush. I want to take it out for a trial run. I don't expect any problems but I want to make sure I have an engineer on board just in case."

As they finished their lunch, Tom stood and led them out of the restaurant. On his way he stopped to take care of the dinner at the front counter and say goodbye to the owner. "Signora, you got us out in perfect time. Grazie."

Tom followed as the rest headed back to the project. Turning to B'Elanna, he continued discussing the shuttles. "I'd like to try out the coaxil drive on the Darwin, but that can wait until we're sure the shuttle in perfect shape. Just to be safe, I'd like to run a few simulations on the coaxil drive before I try it out real, since it has been a while since I've actually driven."

B'Elanna seemed to relax a little bit now that he wasn't protesting her conditions and was offering to run simulations before trying out the coaxil drive. He definitely wasn't fitting in with her memory of his reckless behavior. Although, when she searched her recollections she realized he had always been professional when at the conn of a ship. It was everything he had done in his off hours that had repulsed her.

Taking pleasure in the company of another person wasn't a bad thing. She had certainly scratched that itch a few times during her time on Voyager. It was the fact that he felt the need to either have sex, or attempt to seduce a woman into his bed every time he opened his mouth during their time together in the Maquis that bothered her. Yet, so far today, he had only made one comment about it.

Returning from her thoughts she finally answered him, her face arranged into a neutral expression when talking to him. "We should have the Holodeck simulations loaded and crosschecked by tomorrow morning. Until then, you should go over the flight logs on the Darwin flights and Voyager's return this afternoon."

The rest of the trip back to the building was spent discussing the equipment that had been provided for the project. The Voyager crew got into a lively discussion on the quality of the computer system allocated for their use, and as usual Seven was not impressed.

Upon their return upstairs, they again split off into groups, with Seven remaining with Harry and Tom to look over the flight logs. Tom tried to keep his attention on the task at hand as the group split off to return to the conference room, but he allowed himself one glance at B'Elanna as she walked away. Of course, it had to be the same moment she decided to turn around and discuss something with Lieutenant Carey, so he was caught. He met her glare with a smirk and returned his focus back to the flight logs.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun. _**

**_Thanks to starrylaa for her beta._**

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 7

B'Elanna walked out of the conference room two hours later on a break, ready to kill a few engineers. These were the best Starfleet had to offer? It felt like she was tutoring third year cadets in Advance Subspace Geometry rather than engineers who had been on starships for years. Now she remembered why she had Carey handle the training on Voyager, otherwise there would have been a few more broken noses and jaws over the years.

As she returned to the main room to tell Carey that he had to handle the rest of the orientation, she couldn't stop her eyes from seeking out the other new recruit on the project. Tom Paris had definitely grown up in the last seven years. He had always been physically attractive, but his habit of pursuing everything female had overshadowed that, making him repulsive to her. Now, with that trait appearing to be almost eliminated, he was actually turning out to be a decent person to have around.

As her eyes roamed the room she observed quite a curious sight. Harry and Seven were standing next to him as he was sitting at one of the stations. They appeared to be speaking quietly to him, though he seemed to be completely concentrated on the information on the screen. His hands were poised just above the surface of the panel with his fingers moving, but not hitting the buttons below him.

Deciding to take care of business first, she quickly found Carey and told him she going to check the equipment provided to them. He seemed relieved that she was taking over. He was a good engineer, but she could spot equipment problems a whole lot better than him. Telling him he had training duty for the next few days, didn't seem to bother him at all.

Task completed, she finally indulged her curiosity. She stayed fairly far away from the trio with her observations, not wanting to interrupt whatever they were doing. As she came a little closer, she was able to see the log of Voyager's first attempt at using the coaxil drive playing out on the screen. As she concentrated on Tom's hands, she realized that the movements looked as if they were synchronous with the commands appearing on the screen. After a moment she realized that he was simulating the flight right in front of her.

Every so often his concentrated look would break and a wince would appear on his face. She pulled up the log on the closest workstation, quietly ordering the computer to synchronize it with his and tried to see what might be bothering him. She was quickly able to see a pattern. He was wincing every time the controls weren't adjusted smoothly or a command had been entered wrong on the original flight. In the two hours she had been gone, he had found the issues that it had taken the flight controllers almost a month to correct, and some that they hadn't been able to fix.

She realized that all his fancy flying in the Maquis hadn't even scratched the surface of his skills, especially if he was this good after seven years away from a simulator or actual spacecraft. As he reached the end of the log, she took a deep breath to push her awe down. Despite the intervening years, Paris still had a large ego and she didn't want him to realize how much his little display had affected her. It was simply a colleague admiring another's skills, which he would most likely misinterpret as some prelude to a sexual conquest, and she had no desire to be a part of his lengthy list.

"Starfleet," B'Elanna began, annoyed that two of her team were feeding Paris' ego by staring at him working. "Are you going to stand around looking over Paris' shoulder all afternoon? I'm pretty sure our pilot knows how to run a flight log on his own."

"Good Afternoon Commander," Tom answered. "Don't get mad at Harry, we were just running through the first Voyager flight on the drive. Since I don't have the Holodeck simulation, he was making sure I knew the conn layout on Voyager. It's a slightly different design then I've used before."

"Mr. Paris," Seven started, though with a pointed look from Tom, she corrected before continuing, "Tom, wanted our assistance in 'setting the stage' since flight logs run at full speed do not contain all the spatial and situation data for an accurate portrayal of the flight."

"Sorry," Tom said, "Since you don't have the Holodeck simulation up and running, I needed someone who had experienced the flight to let me in on the nuances. The computer can tell me that the inertial dampers failed, but not the feel of the ship as she reacts to the stress of the flight."

"Well, you don't need them at the moment," B'Elanna retorted, "Harry, can you get them started on loading the simulations, and Seven I'd like you to check that Starfleet correctly adapted the Borg algorithms you set up." Turning back to Tom as they departed, she continued. "Did you at least learn anything after taking up the time of two of my team?"

"With all due respect for Chakotay, he's a terrible pilot." B'Elanna gasped at his words so Tom sent a pleading look, requesting she hear him out before commenting. "Chakotay is a great guy and I gave him way too much grief in the Maquis which he did not deserve, especially after he gave me a chance to fly when no one else would touch me. He's a great leader and strategist, but there was a reason I was brought on to pilot the Liberty. Just like I could do the job he did by commanding a ship, after all I was raised to be a Starfleet captain, he can pilot a ship. But to take Voyager, which had been battered around the Delta Quadrant for six years to begin with, on a flight with this sensitive of a drive you need an instinctive pilot. He knows how to pilot, but this drive needs someone who _feels _how to pilot."

"You just don't like Chakotay," B'Elanna replied. She was getting angry that he was taking shots at her mentor. She knew he didn't like him, but he was the best pilot on Voyager.

"No!" Tom said, thinking for a moment before perking up with a new idea. "It's the difference between you and Seven. You are both excellent engineers. However, Harry told me that the final idea to make the coaxil drive work came after you were temporarily assimilated by the Borg. Seven was Borg, so she obviously had access to the same knowledge, but you both approach problems differently. From my limited dealings with Seven, I found that she will solve problems using logic and manipulating known factors. Whereas on the Liberty you were known for your creative problem solving, as if you were picking up new ideas that had never been tried before. Seven's approach will make the drive work better, but only you could make the leap into adapting it for Voyager. Chakotay can fly a ship by the Starfleet manual, but this drive is not yet written in the book. It needs a pilot good enough to write their own book."

"And of course, that would be you," B'Elanna replied. "Your ego is definitely as big as it was seven years ago."

"I know of at least a couple of other pilots in Starfleet who could handle this drive as well," Tom returned, "But yes, I could have done a better job piloting. This drive is about anticipating the flow of subspace. If you wait until you reach the leading edge of the jump, it's already too late to react."

Tom paused a moment to pull up a section of the log on the screen. Isolating the subspace data, he configured it to display a graph representation of subspace.

"If you are flying at warp speed through subspace, it is like sailing a ship on through the open ocean," Tom continued, falling into a teaching mode. For her part, B'Elanna was mesmerized. As she had noticed earlier, he was a still handsome man and the years seemed to have improved on his boyish good looks, but she had found him to be shallow and self centered while in the Maquis. The man explaining subspace definitely had a whole lot more intelligence and depth then she had previously believed.

"Sometimes it can get a little rough, but the ship still moves with the flow," Tom said, even demonstrating on his diagram. "This drive isn't on the water, it's jumping through subspace. Now instead of calm seas, you are trying to navigate through roaring rapids filled with rocks and other obstacles. Or, as Commander La Forge put it 'a huge honeycomb.' If you don't anticipate where the next boundary is, you will run into it. Voyager sustained a significant amount of damage simply because it kept running into obstacles."

"Then why did the Darwin sustain so little damage?" B'Elanna asked. Despite her shock at how much Tom seemed to know, she was surprisingly able to keep her voice level. Not even her facial expression changed even though the only thought going through her mind at that moment was; damn he's sexy when he talks like this.

"The Darwin is a Class Two shuttle," Tom replied. "While Voyager is dwarfed by say the Enterprise, it is still ten times larger than the shuttle. These clear spaces are sometimes only a couple hundred meters wide. The likelihood of the shuttle randomly making it through, verses Voyager is much greater. In other words, the pilot of the Darwin got lucky and didn't run into anything. Though from the logs, I can see one instance on the second flight, when it returned to Voyager, where it appeared to brush a wall."

"So how many times through have you run these flight logs?" B'Elanna asked, reminding herself that this was Tom Paris, who drank and slept his way through his time with the Maquis. She did not need to be another notch on his bedpost.

"A couple of times through for the Darwin's flights and once for Voyager," Tom said. "It took an extra run through because the log lists Captain Janeway as the pilot, but it doesn't match standard Starfleet patterns, and from what I remember from when she worked with my dad, she was a science officer, not a pilot. Harry mentioned something about body switching, so I'm guessing that was involved?"

"Steth was the pilot on the Darwin's first coaxial drive flight."

"That explains why the transitions were much smoother. He must have had experience with the drive prior to taking the Darwin out," Tom said as he pulled up the logs on two screens. "If you compare these two jumps, you can see the moment where the wall was brushed."

As they started looking over the technical specifications of the flights, B'Elanna could feel her body start to calm down. She could still feel the lust, but it was shifted aside as they delved into the minutia of space travel.

While most of her brain was occupied, a small part tried to dissect the conversation she just had with Tom. She hated this man, yet she had never been that turned on, even with the hormone manipulation those aliens had done to them years ago. It was, she decided, as if some of those stupid urges ignited by Vorik's Pon Farr were coming out. She finally decided it was the arguing that did it. The fact that this physically attractive man also knew how to not only pilot a starship but discuss it coherently was something she hadn't seen in a while and it must have turned her on. At least now that she knew the reason, she could move past it since she didn't intend to act on those feelings for Tom Paris.

With only a half an hour left in their shift, she excused herself to go check on Seven and Harry. She couldn't believe that she had spent over two hours talking with Tom and not once had he acted in any way inappropriately toward her. She figured it must just be first day on the job jitters. After all, being just out of prison, she was sure he didn't want to have an intimate encounter with her fist.

With only a few minutes left, she went ahead and dismissed everyone. It was going to take the week to bring the new people up to speed and a few days to ensure that the equipment was working perfectly, so now was not the time to push everyone too far. That would come as they worked towards perfecting the drive. Now that she had the resources of Starfleet behind her, rather than just what they could buy or barter for in the Delta Quadrant, it was possible.

Before heading out, Tom of course had to seek her out one more time. It was as if he had radar telling him to go where people didn't want to have to deal with him.

"When do you think you will have a chance to finish loading the Voyager simulation onto the Holodeck?" Tom asked with a smile, causing unexpected tingling of desire to course through her.

"In a rush flyboy," B'Elanna shot back.

"Of course," Tom replied with a wink. "I can't wait to get my hands on the most engaging thing to come back from the Delta Quadrant."

"Pig."

"I can't apologize for finding a fast ship sexy," Tom replied. Then he leaned closer to her, continuing for her ears only, "Besides, if I was flirting with you, I would have to describe you as beautiful."

Rolling her eyes at him she answered, "If you keep you comments to yourself, I should have it ready for a test run shortly after your shift starts tomorrow. I am going to need Harry, Seven and myself in there monitoring the readouts. The Holodeck doesn't like to capture the interaction between the Starfleet systems and the Borg modifications. It took us over a week to get the Voyager Holodeck to work right, and it already had Borg modifications built in the last time we had to rebuild it."

"Not a problem for me," Tom replied, then winked as he headed towards the Turbolift. "I don't mind having you looking over my shoulder."

* * *

**_AN - I'm changing my posting day to Wednesday due to RL demands. My next chapter is with my beta right now, so it should go up on time and I'm a couple of pages into chap 9 already. Originally this was going to be only about 10 chapters, but Tom & B'Elanna seem to want to take their time getting to know each other. It's going to take a few more chapters, but sometime soon I'll actually get a full week into the story._**


	8. Chapter 8

**_Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun. _**

**_Thanks to starrylaa for her beta._**

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 8

Tom's second day at work started much as the first one had ended, with B'Elanna looking over his shoulder as he reviewed the Voyager flight logs. This time though, it was only to let him know that he was needed for a test run of Voyager on the Holodeck.

"We have the simulation running, but Seven and I need another half hour before we're ready for the first flight," B'Elanna said as she came up behind where Tom and Harry were reviewing the data from the second coaxial drive run on Voyager. "I'd like to run a couple of flight and battle tests before we try the coaxial drive. I'm still having problems with this Holodeck correctly running the Borg algorithms we use, so I want to make sure it can handle the rest of Voyager's systems."

"Plus Commander," Tom said evenly, "I'm certain you want to make sure I can handle her."

Harry seemed a little shocked, and turned to B'Elanna to respond. "I'm sure he just wants to test the systems."

"No," B'Elanna said with a smile. "Paris is right. He may have passed the simulators with flying colors, but it's my ship he'll be piloting and I want to make sure the last seven years haven't deteriorated everything but his ego."

"I understand your hesitance," Tom said with a smile of his own. "But, as I said yesterday, I'm not going to even try piloting a shuttle until I've had at least a couple of good simulator runs. Besides, I can't wait to try out the responsiveness of the bioneural circuitry."

Taking a deep breath, Tom turned to face B'Elanna before continuing, "Before I forget, I wanted to let you know that it will only by my eldest sister joining us for dinner tonight. Ethan and the girls are visiting my other sister and my nephew. But, I will be on my best behavior as promised."

B'Elanna looked at him for a moment before replying, "At the first sign of etchings, I'm out of there." Then she turned and stalked off to work on the Holodeck.

Tom just smiled and turned back to Harry. Since they were going to be taking Voyager out for a test flight at some point and they had a half hour before they could get started, Harry took it upon himself to ensure that Tom was familiarized with all aspects of the ship, starting with a top to bottom tour of the holographic ship. The adaptations the crew made to Voyager in order to survive in the Delta Quadrant were incredible. A working kitchen, a hydroponics bay, plus all the enhanced systems were amazing. The best though, for Tom, was getting to take her out for a test drive, even if it was only holographic.

B'Elanna wanted to test all her systems to ensure the Holodeck programming was transferred correctly. This meant, not only testing the coaxial drive system, but all standard engineering and maneuvering systems. The first simulation they ran was the trip Badlands to test both her handling and the pilot's skills. B'Elanna wanted to make sure that his score on the simulator the previous week wasn't just an aberration before she let him anywhere near the Delta Flyer for his flight.

This particular simulation was a simple challenge for Tom, since he had previously flown the Liberty through the plasma storms, so he knew what he was doing. The difference in response between the two ships was remarkable. He enjoyed the ease that the ship responded to his various commands. The bio-neural circuitry was amazingly responsive, plus she was made for performance and speed.

But it wasn't just Tom who was enjoying the ride. B'Elanna, Harry and Seven were all on the bridge ensuring that the various systems were functioning properly. B'Elanna and Harry were at their normal stations, while Seven was standing in at Tactical. All were highly impressed at the ease in which the ship maneuvered though the rapidly developing plasma storms with barely any hesitation. Tom handled the ship through the storms with the same ease and grace as if he was piloting a class two shuttle in the same space. The flight was as smooth as if they were flying through clear space, even as Voyager twisted and turned its way through the raging inferno outside. Not even a jolt was felt as the inertial dampers easily compensated for the path that Voyager weaved through the disturbances.

As they finished up, Tom turned to the observers and said, "Now that was fun. What else do you have for me?"

"I'm glad we're providing for your amusement," B'Elanna snapped back. She was awed by his piloting ability, but not about to let him know anything that might inflate his ego. "If you're done playing with my ship, I need to ensure that the shields are functioning correctly."

"So are we flying into an asteroid field or a battlefield?" Tom asked.

"You need to hold your horses, hotshot," B'Elanna replied.

"What do four legged…" Seven started.

Harry quickly interrupted her, trying to head off another argument between the women on the use of colloquialisms and their misinterpretation. "B'Elanna's telling Tom to wait and see."

Before Seven could respond, B'Elanna pulled up the next program. It was a simulation of the battle with the Kazon right before Voyager destroyed the array. It quickly became clear to Harry and B'Elanna, who were both on their respective bridges during the battle, the disparity between the original battle and this simulation. The difference in piloting skills between Tom and the pilots who flew Voyager during the battle were astounding. The chief pilot, Lieutenant Stadi, was killed on the trip to the Delta Quadrant, so Voyager didn't have its hand picked pilot at the helm. Even so, compared to the performance showed by Tom, the backups appeared to be almost as bad as first year cadets.

"Please tell me that this was just a basic battle simulation," Tom said as Voyager pulled away from the exploding array.

"We still had to destroy the array," B'Elanna replied, mad that he was implying that the whole reason they were stranded in the Delta Quadrant was because of inadequate piloting and this was just a basic simulation to him.

"That was a numbers game," Tom answered. "With only two ships, both heavily damaged before the battle even began, there was no way to save the array. However, even with the adaptive programming the Kazon are not very smart. There were at least a dozen chances for them to severely damage the Liberty and one I couldn't avoid for Voyager and they didn't even try to take advantage of them. The little Kazon vessels flew like they were the size of the Enterprise and don't even get me started on the idiot who was piloting that mother ship. A blind man at the helm could have done a better job of avoiding Chakotay's kamikaze run."

"The Kazon made up in tenacity what they lacked in intelligence," Harry replied. "It also helped when one of our own defected and improved their tactics."

"I bet you could have handed Voyager over to them and they still would have lost the battle," Tom said.

"We did," B'Elanna replied, "And Harry here did, with a shuttle, the Doctor, a murdering Betazoid and the help of the Talaxians."

"Sounds like we have a lot of stories to hear tonight," Tom said with a smile. "Kathleen is looking forward to meeting you. She's an archeologist and loves digging, especially for juicy gossip. Actually Commander Torres, you'll love her, since her favorite target to pick on is yours truly."

Tom simply grinned as B'Elanna shot him a dirty look. Turning to the others, he questioned them on the run. "Obviously I'm not completely comfortable with the way the bio-neural circuitry functions in expediting helm commands, but I was wondering how much of the delay was caused by the battle damage. I think I did a little better on the first simulation, but it could very well be due to my needing more simulator time.

"Actually," Harry responded, "Your response times were faster by almost twenty percent over the pilot at the helm during the original battle."

Harry was so impressed with Tom's flying that he ran a comparison between the original battle and the simulation they just flew on the Holodeck. The damage statistics were thirty percent lower in the latest scenario in which the computer assumed that the Kazon were able to adapt to the new maneuvers. Tom was shocked at how great the difference was in the results. He had hoped that the flight logs from the coaxial drive tests were an aberration as to the skills of the pilots, but unfortunately they weren't. Voyager had unfortunately been stranded on the other side of the galaxy with only mediocre pilots.

After an hour in the Badlands, over an hour of intense battle simulation and another hour spent critiquing the two runs, it was time to break for lunch. This time, Tom and Harry decided to head down to the cafeteria for lunch. Seven and B'Elanna stayed behind to correct some slight errors they found in the way the simulation was handling the response time on the bio-neural circuitry. Apparently the helm was running slower than the real Voyager and she didn't want that skewing any of the results.

For Tom it was definitely time for a recharge. The fact that it had been seven years since he had been at the helm of a starship, even in a simulation, was starting to get to him. While he enjoyed every minute of reacquainting himself with the controls and feeling the responsiveness of the ship, it still was a tremendous amount of work. He had forgotten exactly how much work sitting in a chair and punching a few buttons could be when it happened through tough flying conditions or during a battle. It felt like every muscle had gotten a workout from holding his position as the ship twisted and turned in the heat of battle. Tom's ability to feel the movement of the ship, despite the inertial dampers, may be an asset to his skills as a pilot, but when it happens in the middle of a battle as his body tenses with every pitch and roll of the ship, it can really hurt.

As they rode the Turbolift down, Tom took the opportunity to stretch out his aching muscles. He turned to Harry and asked, "So was it like that every day out there?"

"Sometimes," Harry replied, contemplating for a moment. "But then there was the time we went through the void and had months of nothing, not even stars."

"So how did it compare to your other postings?" Tom asked as they walked into the cafeteria to get their lunch.

"Actually, Voyager was my first posting right out of the Academy," Harry replied.

"Wow," Tom said as they sat down to eat, "Chief Ops Officer right off, great job. But I bet you were as green as they come when you walked onto the ship."

Tom laughed as Harry turned a little red at the comment.

"Yeah, but six years in the Delta sure helped me grow up," Harry responded. "Actually, it was B'Elanna who helped me out once we were stranded."

"Really," Tom responded questioningly. He was desperately trying to hide his interest in anything regarding her history. Instead he tried to follow with an offhand comment. "She certainly wasn't like that when I met her."

"Right after we were pulled into the Delta we were stranded on Ocampa," Harry started. "Weird growths all over our bodies and we were stuck underground with no way to contact the ship. All I knew about her was that she was from Chakotay's ship and we were supposed to capture them. She called me Starfleet since I was there to arrest her so I called her Maquis. I guess we bonded over memories of Zacarian."

"I remember him," Tom said, "He was nicknamed Sneezy, right?" At Harry's nod he continued. "I wish I had been able to have him, but I was stuck with my father. We didn't really get along at the time, so a week in survival conditions really didn't help."

Tom tried to look interested in his food, but was too invested in his next question. He thought that Harry was interested resuming a relationship with Libby, but his desire to explore something with the beautiful engineer had him a little worried. "So, you and B'Elanna are close?"

"You could say that," Harry responded, but was not quite as naive as people took him for anymore. He was well aware of the looks that Tom had been shooting his friend and was pretty sure that she was sending the same looks right back at him. Stationed at the back of the Bridge had its advantages for perfecting his people watching skills. "We're really close."

"Oh," Tom said, holding his tongue but desperately wanting the full answer to the question.

"I love her," Harry said, pausing dramatically as he watched Tom's face fall, "Like the sister I never had. We tried dating for a short while but it wasn't right."

"I'm sorry," Tom said, not that he was too much since the news was good for him but wanting to be sympathetic for the man who was rapidly becoming a friend.

"We tried dating for a short while," Harry said, deciding that he really liked Tom and wanted his new friend to have a clear picture of what he was getting into. "It didn't really work. One, we were much better off as friends. And two, she is quite a dynamic woman, not exactly what most men would be willing to put up with. She's got a temper, which I think she got from both her parents. She's yet to find anyone who can stand up to her for more than a few minutes. Chakotay was the person who was able to come the closest, but he's like her older brother."

They continued their lunch talking about trivial things, working on cementing their growing friendship. Surprised at how quickly time had gotten away from them, after an hour break they went back up to the Holodeck to continue hunting for glitches in the Holographic programing.

The afternoon on the Holodeck was consumed with fixing the errors that the program was showing in correctly responding to the Borg refinements incorporated in Voyager. B'Elanna insisted on running one more simulation multiple times for the rest of the afternoon to ensure that the program was ready to test out the reactions of the coaxial drive in action. They kept running the battle with the Borg when they rescued her, Tuvok and the Captain, since it had the most advanced algorithms to work with. Tom loved it since it was a challenging scenario to evade the attacking Borg vessels and survive long enough for them to drop shields at the right moment for the transporter to rescue the crewmembers.

B'Elanna enjoyed the afternoon because it not only gave her a chance to ensure her ship was functioning perfectly, but also because it gave her a great view of Tom's flying skills. By the end of the afternoon they were all ready to head out. Almost four hours of flying and fixing had worn them all out.

Tom practically skipped out of the Holodeck, still running on adrenalin and joy at getting to pilot Voyager all day, even if it was on a Holodeck. With a smile and a wave he said his goodbyes. "I'll see you guys later this evening. Kathleen said dinner will be ready at seven."

* * *

**_AN - The next few chapters will feature the Voyager crew telling stories of their time in the Delta Quadrant. If you have a specific episode you would like me to use in this story, please let me know ASAP as I'm hoping to finalize the next chapter soon so it can be posted on time. Please see my profile for a brief overview of changes to the Voyager timeline due to Tom not going on Voyager._**


	9. Chapter 9

**_Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun. _**

**_Thanks to starrylaa for her beta, though this chapter may have errors that are all mine, since I added almost a thousand words at the last minute that she only had time to do a quick look over._**

**_Warning - One instance of bad language in this chapter._**

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 9

"Tommy, did-," Kathleen started.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that," Tom snapped at his sister, before calming down and continuing. "I'm really trying to make a good impression on these people, and I don't need to hear your teasing all night."

"I know," Kathleen replied, looking a little embarrassed as she came out of the kitchen to check on the table that Tom was setting. "That's why I said I'd do this dinner even though the girls had plans for all of us to stay over at Moira's tonight. I understand that you want to do everything you can to make a fresh start."

"It's more than that," Tom said as he finished putting the last touches on the place settings. Turning to his sister and motioning for them to go back into the kitchen and check on the food, he continued. "I think I could fit in with them."

"Oh really?" Kathleen replied suggestively lifting her eyebrows for emphasis as she opened the oven to put in the bread to heat for dinner.

"Not like that," Tom said with an eye roll as he started cutting vegetables for the salad. "Why must your mind take everything into the gutter? I meant that I could see myself as friends with them. In their own way, they have spent the last six years in confinement, though theirs was seventy thousand light years away. I'm not the only one on this project needing to adapt to life back in the Federation. While I may be a former convict, we are all outsiders in our own way."

"Seven is a former Borg. She can probably out logic a Vulcan, and she has the most interesting sense of humor. I think I gained her trust by acknowledging the fact she was a Borg and simply moving on to discuss the project with her, colleague to colleague. I didn't treat her any different than Harry, who is the second in command on the project. I can guarantee, with all bad feelings that people have toward the Borg, that she has been treated like an outcast since she arrived in the Alpha Quadrant.

"Then there's Harry," Tom continued with a smile. "I can see the same spark in him that drew me to Harry Higgins, though I doubt Higgins was ever quite as green as the new Lieutenant was when he walked onto Voyager as an ensign fresh out of the Academy. They both see life with such optimism, despite any hardships such as joining the Maquis or the struggle of life alone in the Delta Quadrant. I can definitely see him as a close friend."

"Sounds good," Kathleen said as she stirred the soup. "But aren't there any women on the project?"

"Seven is female," Tom shot back at her. "But I believe she is seeing Captain Chakotay, or at least that is the impression I got since he is accompanying her tonight."

"You know what I mean," Kathleen replied as she turned to look Tom in the eye. "What about this Commander Torres that is coming to dinner?"

"B'Elanna is an intriguing woman," Tom said as he finished cutting vegetables and tossed them together for the salad, trying not to be obvious in his refusal to look her in the eye.

"Is that all I'm going to get?" Kathleen replied with a frown, as the door bell rang.

"I have some guests to greet," Tom countered as he headed towards the door, dropping the bowl with the salad on the table while going to get the door. Just before opening it, he turned back to his sister and decided to answer her question without an audience. "She's a former Maquis who I would very much like to count among the friends I make on this project, so please hold the teasing and innuendo to a minimum."

With a final pleading look towards his sister, Tom turned and opened the door. "Good evening Captain Chakotay, Seven. Please come in. I'm so glad you could come."

Tom closed the door and led them over to the sitting room, waiting for them to have a seat before sitting himself. With a gesture toward his sister who stood in the doorway he made the introductions. "This is my eldest sister, Kathleen. This is Captain Chakotay, who is currently teaching at Starfleet Academy, and was the first officer on Voyager and the captain of the Maquis ship I piloted. And this is Seven of Nine, also formerly of Voyager and the other civilian consultant on the coaxial drive project."

"Good to meet you," Chakotay began, pointedly addressing Kathleen and looking a little unconvinced of how to treat Tom. "You're not my student, so please feel free to call drop the captain part."

"It is nice to meet both of you," Kathleen said. Turning to Seven she added, "Tom mentioned that he enjoys working with you on the project. He was very happy that he would not be the only non-Starfleet on the project."

"He has been an asset towards working to improve the coaxial drive for widespread use," Seven answered, causing Tom to smile as even his short time on the project had allowed him to understand that was high praise from her.

Shortly thereafter Kathleen returned to the kitchen and Tom turned to address Chakotay. "I was hoping that you would be here early so that I could have a moment to talk with you prior to dinner. I wanted to thank you for the opportunity you gave me seven years ago to pilot the Liberty. It may not have turned out quite how either of us expected, but without you I don't know how much further I would have fallen before getting a wake up call to straighten up. I know I was an obnoxious son of a bitch to you, but it was not personal since I hated pretty much everyone back then."

"Well," Chakotay began, "That was not what I was expecting when you said you wanted to talk with me. Seven told me that you were looking forward to seeing me and I was wondering what you could possibly have to say to me. She mentioned that she liked working with you on the project, so I knew that you must have lost some of the attitude you had in the Maquis. I certainly wasn't anticipating an apology. I look forward to getting to know you again, this time sober."

"That's they way I plan to be," Tom replied with a laugh. "It's amazing how much of a difference having something to look forward to, rather than running from everything makes on the desire to go through life drinking it away."

Before they could continue, the doorbell rang again and Tom quickly rose to answer it. With a smile he led Harry and Libby into the room.

"Hi, I'm Tom Paris. I'm guessing you must be Libby. Please come in," he continued as he motioned them to follow to the seating area. "Seven and Chakotay are already in the sitting room. My sister, Kathleen is finishing up on dinner. If you'll excuse me I'm going to check on her for a moment," Tom said just as the doorbell rang again. "Or maybe I'll just let Commander Torres in."

With another smile, this one a little brighter and more welcoming, Tom opened the door and said, "Good evening, Commander."

"Nice place, Paris," B'Elanna said as walked in and looked around.

"I'll be sure to pass on your compliments to my parents," Tom replied, motioning for her to join the others. "I'm glad you were able to join us. If you'd like to have a seat, I'll check with Kathleen and see if we're ready for dinner."

Before B'Elanna could take a seat, Kathleen came out of the kitchen and said, "Tom, if you could help me bring the remainder of the food to the table the rest of you can have a seat in the dinning room."

"Sure," Tom said and made the last introductions before heading into the kitchen. "This is my eldest sister and also our chef for tonight Kathleen. These are Commander B'Elanna Torres, Lieutenant Harry Kim and Libby. I'm sorry Libby, Harry didn't tell me your last name."

"It's Lattimore," said Libby.

As the guests were seated, Tom brought out a tureen of soup, while Kathleen brought out the fresh bread. Already on the table were the salad and a plate of finger sandwiches. In the center of the table were a couple of bottles of Pinot Grigio and Sangiovese wine and pitchers of iced tea and water.

"Please help yourselves," Tom said as soon as he sat down. After only a moment of contemplation, everyone began to dig in to both the food and drinks as it all smelled so good. "I just wanted you guys to have a taste of what you can get using fresh ingredients. As I told you when I invited you, Kathleen is one of the best cooks I know. She can take the simplest fresh items and make a feast."

"When you spend most of your time out in the field with a family to feed, sometimes without access to a replicator for weeks at a time, you learn to make it work," Kathleen answered, a little embarrassed.

"What, I spend a few years in jail and now I can't compliment my big sis," Tom said with a huge grin, which quickly turned to a smirk as he started teasing her. "Fine, I'll go back to pulling your pigtails and telling your boyfriends that you…"

"Thank you Tom," Kathleen interrupted. Turning to the rest of the table she tried to redirect the conversation. "So tell us some stories of what Tom missed out of life on Voyager while suck in prison?"

Tom's shout of "Kathleen!" was met with a table full of blank stares as they tried to understand what she just said.

"What do you mean by 'missed out of life on Voyager' because that sounds like you could have been there," Chakotay asked, puzzlement showing on his face.

"Sorry Tom," Kathleen apologized. "I thought you had told them."

"Told us what," B'Elanna snapped, upset that he lied to them.

"I wasn't hiding anything; it just hadn't come up yet." Taking a few deep breaths, he looked first at Chakotay and then B'Elanna before replying. "Before Voyager went out to search for the Liberty in the Badlands, Captain Janeway came to me at Auckland with an offer. They needed someone to take them into the Badlands and find your ship, and in return I would get a good word to the parole board."

The glares that came from the two former Maquis were almost deadly in their intensity. But Tom didn't back down. "I would not have been allowed to pilot, it would have been simply an observer position. They needed help figuring out where you were going when the Cardassian ship lost track of you. I figured I'd take them out into the Badlands, cruise around for a few weeks and go back to a hopefully shorter prison sentence. It's not like I knew where any of the bases were. They were going to go looking anyway, so I might as well hitch a ride. Instead I was stopped at the shuttle platform at Auckland and told that my parole chances had been revoked and I was to spend my entire seven year sentence in Auckland."

"Why would you betray the Maquis?" Chakotay said, attempting very hard to control his voice.

"I wasn't gong to betray anyone," Tom answered, looking Chakotay in the eye. "I had to get out of there. Not only was I grounded for what I thought was another four years plus two years of parole, but everyone despised me. The former Starfleeters hated me for joining the Maquis and then keeping my mouth shut at the trial. The Maquis hated me because I had the good fortune to pilot into a Starfleet trap and thought I had been working for Starfleet all along. Besides, it didn't matter that I wasn't there, Voyager still found you. All that I would have gotten out of the deal was a free trip to the Delta Quadrant."

"If you had been there," Chakotay began, calming down a little, "I probably would have killed you."

"I don't doubt it," Tom said, "Which was plenty of incentive for me to make sure Voyager didn't find the Liberty."

"I guess that explains a few things though," Chakotay said, realizing that it wasn't worth holding this against Tom, since he hadn't actually done anything. "Kathryn used to curse Starfleet and the Federation every time we got into trouble because of a pilot error. I never understood how it was their fault that the trip to the Delta Quadrant blew up the helm controls in the face of the Voyager's Chief Pilot."

"I guess she might have let me pilot," Tom said wistfully. "I spent months dreaming about being on that ship until word reached Auckland that Voyager was missing. Then once word got out that Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant, I wondered if I would have survived the trip to the Delta Quadrant and what my place would have been on the ship."

"You would have been the Chief Pilot," Seven said. "The skills you display as a pilot far exceed everyone from Voyager."

"What?" Tom said. He knew her words were true about his skills, but he wasn't sure about Janeway trusting him with her ship.

"She's right," Chakotay answered. "I didn't have enough time to train the pilots correctly and do the First Officer's job."

"But I would have been a convict on parole," Tom argued.

"I am a former Borg drone," Seven stated. "And our Doctor was a Hologram. The Captain would have put you wherever you would have assisted Voyager the most."

"Though I would have hated you for coming after us," B'Elanna said, finally calming down and thinking the situation through. "Eventually I might have forgiven you. Given your piloting skills, you would have saved me a lot of repairs to Voyager."

"I guess this explains your fascination with stories from Voyager," Harry commented.

"I had a lot of time to think about what could have been," Tom said. "I guess I like hearing the tales after all, seven years locked up with only a few visitors leads to a very boring existence. So, what are your favorite stories from life on Voyager?"

"Do you have six years or so," Harry answered with a smile. "It seemed like every week we were meeting a new race and trading or being chased out of someone's territory by phaser fire."

"Over the course of the 310 weeks Voyager spent in the Delta Quadrant," Seven said, "You only encountered 151 different species, if you assume that assimilated Borg drones only account for a single species."

After a few minutes of attempted stifling of giggles and full on laughter, Kathleen asked, "What was the most interesting race you encountered?"

"The dinosaurs," At a look from Chakotay, Harry quickly corrected himself, "Sorry, the Voth were definitely interesting, and one of those who hated us almost on sight. Hey didn't like the idea that they might have been descendents of intelligent dinosaurs who left Earth before the asteroids wiped out their civilization. Though I would have to say the Hirogen are the race that probably caused us the most joy and most trouble."

"I recognize that name," Tom said.

"They were the race that had control of the subspace relay network that we were able to use to make our first contact with the Federation," Harry replied. "Of course they were also the race that took over Voyager and turned the Holodecks into a hunting game."

"What do you mean by a hunting game?" Kathleen asked. "Did they create animals on the Holodecks to hunt them down?"

"Oh no," Harry said, "They like to hunt intelligent prey. Most of the Voyager crew was turned into their prey. They were given memory implants to make them into the characters in their games and hunted. The Doc would then patch them up and put them back into the Holodecks for another round. I was one of the lucky ones who kept the ship together while they played their demented games."

"You at least remember the months that went by," B'Elanna said. "I don't know what was worse. Not remembering anything about our lives from that time period or suddenly waking up and realizing your body looks eight months pregnant."

"They…" Tom started to say, shocked that these aliens could have stooped to that level.

"Amazing the things they can create in the Holodeck," B'Elanna interrupted not wanting Tom to think she had a child. Of course she didn't really want to examine why that point was important to her. Additionally she didn't want to examine the fact that she was happy he had only taken a few sips from his wine glass during dinner, even though Harry and Chakotay had already refilled their glasses. Surely it didn't matter to her that this was his was just another reminder that he obviously was not the same drunken man she knew from the Maquis. "You stand inside and you look one way and then you walk out and suddenly the growth attached to your body that had been kicking your various internal organs disappears. Apparently the Hirogen thought it would be fun to hunt down a pregnant woman, and we didn't have any live specimens for them to practice with on Voyager."

Silence reigned at the table for a few minutes as everyone absorbed that last statement. Though the table was mostly quiet, there were plenty of quiet compliments as the diners were quickly finishing their first helpings of dinner and starting on seconds. Trying to dispel some of the tension, Harry said, "This soup is amazing."

Thanks," said Kathleen. "It's an old family recipe. Tom loves it. This is the third batch I've had to make in the week he's been home."

"Hey," Tom said with a playful glower, "It's been over seven years since I've been able to have a decent bowl of soup. Even when Harry finally managed to smuggle in that replicator to Auckland we couldn't get anything but these awful imitations of proper tomato soup out of it."

"Smuggled," Harry asked.

"Yeah," Tom replied. "My friend Harry Higgins was the king of being able to get anything and everything into Auckland."

"I remember that name," Chakotay said. "Didn't he blow up Rossic VI?"

"That's good old Harry," Tom replied. "One of the better engineers that Starfleet had, but he had more fun making things blow up then fixing them and joined the Maquis. He helped me survive the last six years of Auckland. We used to build things based on old movies we'd seen to pass the time. I had trouble keeping up with him at first, but I enrolled in some of the engineering classes they had at the education center so that I could do my share on our projects."

"So, enough about my days of absolute boredom in prison, you promised stories tonight," Tom said.

"No," Harry replied. "You said you were going to get us drunk so that you could get the good stories out of us. We never agreed to anything."

"That is correct," Seven said, "You did not state there was a price for attending this meal."

"Aw, come on, I'll take just the non-embarrassing stories for now," Tom answered. "I can break into Dad's liquor cabinet later for the good stuff. He used to have some amazing hundred year old scotch."

At the dubious looks of all the former Voyager crew, he continued while putting on his best puppy-dog begging face. "Please, this dinner has to be worth a little story or two."

"I guess we could tell one or two stories," Harry said, giving in quickly to Tom's pleading expression. "What should I lead off with?" He continued as he surveyed everyone's faces for any clues.

"How about the time you were stuck with that homicidal clown?" B'Elanna says with a grin. "I don't think you've managed to look at a clown again without screaming since."

"Hey," Harry says with a frown, "It could have been you stuck in there the whole time with that manifestation of fear instead of me. Of course I might have been able to figure a way out faster if he hadn't been able to read my thoughts."

"You're just jealous that I didn't have to spend all that time in there," B'Elanna replied with a smile.

"In where?" Tom asked, overjoyed that B'Elanna was joining in the dinner conversation yet again despite her reluctance to attend the dinner.

"About two years into our journey," Harry replied, "We came across a planet that had been through a solar flare about nineteen years before. In order to survive, a group of the inhabitants, the Kohl, had gone into artificial hibernation. They were supposed to come out after fifteen years, but most remained in their stasis pods, perfectly healthy but not initiating the reanimation procedures. Captain, I mean Admiral Janeway being who she is; we had to investigate why they hadn't come out."

"Two of the group had died so B'Elanna and I end up taking their places in the stasis pods to investigate," Harry says with a shudder, remembering the awful time he had in that artificial environment. "The place was controlled by the manifestation of their fears, which was preventing them from leaving. We convinced him to let one of us out, but it took a lot of work from Voyager to free myself and the Kohl."

"So where does the clown come in?" Tom asked.

"Fear was manifested as a clown," Harry answered.

"I think they made some twentieth century horror films about that," Tom replied. "So did fear have a sense of humor?"

"Not unless you liked your humor on the macabre side," Harry answered. "His favorite game was to threaten to guillotine his detractors."

"That sounds fun only if I'm watching from the outside," Tom replied. "Any less morbid adventures?"

"There was the time that Voyager got twisted into a maze," Harry said.

With a confused expression Tom asked, "How does a space ship get lost in a maze?"

"When the energy field we stumbled into twists and turns Voyager into knots," Harry replied. "The ship wasn't lost in a maze; it became a maze as it seemed to rearrange itself. We were on the Holodeck for Kes' birthday party and suddenly corridors don't lead where their supposed to go. B'Elanna stepped out of Engineering and into some poor half-naked crewman's quarters."

Harry tried to hide his laughter and duck behind his empty plate at the same time as B'Elanna threatens to throw her spoon across the table at him. By this time everyone had finished up dinner, completely emptying the serving plates on the table as well as most of the offered wine, but everyone was enjoying the company too much to move.

"No food fights in this house," Kathleen joked, even though there wasn't any food left to throw. Despite everyone being finished with dinner, they were stuffed and definitely not ready to leave the table yet. "I had to clean up the last one Tom and I got into, and I don't think I was ever able to get the stains out of Mom's favorite curtains."

"Anyway," Tom interrupted before Kathleen could spill any more embarrassing family secrets to his new friends. "What was the energy field?"

"Actually," Harry continued, "It was a life form attempting to communicate. It copied our database and left behind an enormous amount of information. We never got a definitive answer, but it probably did not exist fully in subspace with us, and the pull between where we saw it and where it actually was caused what appeared to be a twisting of Voyager. Afterwards, there was absolutely no damage to the ship. Yet another of those weird is part of the job things."

"Wow," Tom said. "Sounds like you never had a dull moment."

"We did have the months in the void," Harry responded. "Imagine a region of space twenty five thousand light years across with no stars. And through it is the only expedient way back to the Alpha Quadrant. I think everyone on the ship was about to go crazy from the boredom before we encountered the indigenous aliens and the Malon who were poisoning them. We found the wormhole the Malon were using to dump their theta radiation and managed to leave that blank space behind."

"No stars," Tom said, "I think that sounds worse that being stuck in an endless firefight. I know I would have gone crazy within days, though with access to a Holodeck I might have lasted a few weeks. Even at Auckland, though I couldn't go anywhere, I could still glaze out at the stars during the night."

"Speaking of stars," Kathleen said, "Did you want to head out back and relax for a while before I bring out the dessert. The view of the bay is gorgeous at night, and we can continue these great stories."

With just a moment of discussion, everyone stood up and started to venture outside, ready to enjoy relaxing on Earth under the stars. For the crew of Voyager it was a treat they had not grown anywhere near tired of after dreaming of it for six years.

* * *

**_AN - Posting may be a little more spotty from now on as RL is really busy and I've don't have any chapters left in reserve. I do have the next chapter half done, and review help inspire me..._**

**_I'm planning on focusing on the relationship over the friendship from this point on. If you would like the friendships to remain at the forefront of this story, please let me know and I'll fit it in._**


	10. Chapter 10

**_Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun. _**

**_Thanks to starrylaa for her beta_**

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 10

After they finished up from dinner, Tom led everyone out to the back deck. It was still quite comfortable outside, so everyone gladly found seats to watch the evening play out in front of them. They were still stuffed from dinner, so there was no rush to bring out the dessert. As everyone got comfortable, he took the opportunity to step back inside for a moment to grab his Padd before coming up next to B'Elanna.

"Commander," Tom said, a little hesitant to pull her aside due to her comments about his motives from this afternoon, but he really wanted to get her opinion on the drive he helped design. Deciding that it was time to stop worrying how his past was going to affect other people's opinions of him, he took a deep breath and continued. "I have those specs I started to tell you about, if you want to take a look."

She was startled when he first came up, obviously not expecting him. She turned to look at him, wondering what his motive might be, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. If it was just a rouse to 'look at his etchings' there were plenty of people around to keep it from getting out of her control. "I could do that," she answered before asking, "Where?"

"I have the specs right here," Tom said as he held up the Padd, mostly successful in keeping his joy at her accepting from his face, only allowing a simple smile to break though his control. Pointing to a set of chairs surrounding a little table a few feet away from the group, but still on the porch, he continued. "Since everyone is talking, we could sit right over there so we don't disturb them. Plus, this way they can make sure I don't try and do more than show you my specs for the hyper drive we developed," Tom finished with a big smirk. He figured that he could afford to tease her since his intentions were entirely noble, at least for this night. As attractive as he found her, he was being honest with his sister earlier that it was important for him to find friends right now.

Slapping his arm for his comment and glaring at him, B'Elanna stood and walked over to the other chairs before dropping heavily into one of the seats. Tom was rejoicing at her responding to his teasing banter until she said, "You may have them fooled that you have cleaned up your act, but I know better Paris."

Tom tried desperately not to allow his falling hopes show, but he knew that she would be able to see that her words affected him if she looked at his face. Instead of sitting down with her at the chairs, he simply held out the Padd that contained the specs for her to take from him. Carefully keeping any emotion out of his voice, he answered. "I'm sorry you feel that way Commander. I just wanted to get your opinion on the specs for the drive, considering you were able to build a slipstream drive of your own. If you would like, I can just have these sent to your quarters or you don't even have to take a look."

When she just looked at him for a second, he started to pull back his hand with the Padd and began to turn around to return inside. As much as he tried to hide it, his body language was betraying that he was upset by this turn of events. Finally realizing that her words had really hurt him, B'Elanna quickly reached out a hand and grabbed his wrist to keep him from moving away. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I'd like to see the specs, if you don't mind sitting down and discussing them with me."

The grin that came over Tom's face at her words made B'Elanna's heart beat faster. No wonder so many women took him into their beds. One glance at that smile and she was considering it. It wasn't surprising that she had heard some of the women in the Maquis call it a 'panty dropping smile' because it was certainly enough to get even her to consider, if only for a second, jumping into bed with him.

Not wanting to press his luck, Tom quickly to a seat next to her, but making sure to pull it away so that there was at least six inches between their chairs. With a few touches of the Padd, he brought up the specs and started explaining the contents of the Padd to her. "I was finally able to get a hold of the specs from Voyager's slipstream drive last night, now that I'm officially working with the Voyager project. I had the computer run an analysis of the differences between the two drives and those are the items highlighted on this Padd. I figured that you know how your drive worked and didn't need to go over the identical code again."

Looking impressed at the forethought that went into that task B'Elanna accepted the Padd when he offered it to her.

"How'd you get a hold of the specs from Voyager?" B'Elanna asked as she started looking through the contents.

"I've been trying to get them for months, since they told us that our hyper drive was extremely similar in design," Tom replied. "Now that I'm officially working on Voyager, my dad was able to help the process along."

"So I guess it pays to have an Admiral for a father," B'Elanna joked.

Shaking his head, Tom answered, "It didn't for a very long time. We've only been able to really talk for the last couple years. Now, he helps me when he can, like making sure I was checked out on the simulator so that Admiral Janeway could put me on the project. My simulator scores were almost equal to the other leading candidate, but apparently my work on this drive was enough for her to choose me. She told my dad that she wanted a pilot who could not only fly, but tell the engineers where the reason it wasn't flying was coming from."

"That was definitely our downfall on Voyager," B'Elanna said, still scanning through the Padd. "Chakotay could help with repairs in a bind, but the rest of the pilots couldn't even do maintenance beyond flushing the injectors."

"That's not right," Tom said. "When I ran Nova Squadron I made sure my pilots could, at the very least, run though the maintenance checklist with their engineer, if not on their own. If you're going to be a pilot you have to know your vehicle, because one day you will be on a solo run and something will break down and it will take your communications with it. You need to know enough to either rig up a communications system or to fix the craft so it can limp back to base. That's the major problem with Starfleet Academy, they don't require fundamental ship repair for non-engineers. At the very least, everyone who goes beyond basic piloting courses should at least get an overview on the care of the ship."

"Where were you when I had to drag the pilots to engineering to do even a basic calibration of the navigational array?" B'Elanna replied with a smile. "I used to have to have Harry work on it, because if it wasn't helm controls, they didn't want to touch it."

"Hearing things like that makes me wonder how different it would have been if I was there," Tom said wistfully. Shaking his head as if to clear out those thoughts he looked over at B'Elanna before continuing. "But you can't change the past. Besides, I never would have thought to develop a hyper drive if I hadn't met Harry Higgins, and I didn't meet him until the day I was meant to leave for Voyager. So, what do you think of the specs?"

"There aren't that many highlighted sections," B'Elanna said.

"I was very surprised at that fact myself," Tom replied. "There are seven significant design differences and about a hundred minor ones of which more than ninety percent are simply syntax differences. The major differences are highlighted in red, and the minor, immaterial differences are in yellow to make finding them easier."

"So how much work did you really put into this?" B'Elanna questioned as she started looking more closely at some of the red sections.

"I did my fair share," Tom answered with pride. "Harry did a lot of the theoretical workup, as I've obviously never gotten a degree in engineering."

B'Elanna didn't even glance at Tom as she interrupted him before he went further. "You are four classes shy of a doctorate from the Daystrom Institute."

"What?" Tom said with disbelief. He wasn't sure what surprised him more, that he was actually that close or that she had taken the time to look up the engineering credentials on her test pilot.

"I looked it up this afternoon," B'Elanna said with a shrug. She wasn't about to let him know exactly how much he was starting to fascinate her. After his impressive display of not only piloting but an intuition on the way Voyager would respond, she was curious what training he had in other areas such as operations and engineering. What she found astounded her, but she didn't want him to know that. "I wanted to know if you really had any specs to show me."

"I told you I had the drive to show you," Tom said defensively. He wondered if she didn't believe he could have done the work himself. "Plus I have not only the classes, but a dissertation to write."

"What do you think I'm holding in my hand right now?" B'Elanna replied. "Daystrom has already approved this as a doctoral project, but I guess they were waiting for you to get out of prison to notify you. Plus, I hear you have a mostly complete prototype already sitting at the Institute."

"True," Tom said modestly. "But as I said, Harry did most of the work."

Taking a second look at one of the red highlighted items, B'Elanna held out the Padd so both of them could see it and showed it to Tom. "This was not written by the same person as this section right above it. The first section is identical to what I wrote for Voyager. This second section is significantly different than what we used. This code is specific to the operation of the drive in the handling of the vessel. It is obviously written by someone who knows how to get the vessel to do what it wanted."

B'Elanna paused a moment to figure out how to phrase what she wanted to say without inflating his ego too much. He appeared to be rather modest regarding his engineering skills, but considering the Tom she had dealt with in the Maquis, she didn't want to take any chances. Finally deciding that the work was too good not to just come out and praise it honestly, she continued.

"It not only focuses on making the drive function, but the changes make it smoother and I would assume easier to control for the pilot. I can guarantee that no engineer trained in Starfleet could have come up with this idea. The only reason I caught it is because I improvised a theoretically similar solution while working with Chakotay. Ours is nowhere near as elegant or practical as this. I think this may have minimized some of the vibrations that we experienced on our use of the drive, and might have even halved the phase variance that pushed us out of the slipstream. I don't think it would have eliminated the problem, but it's an interesting step towards the solution."

"Most engineers would never set it up that way, as it only bogs down the code if you are looking for speed and efficiency. However, the way this is done, it causes a tenth of a second delay to get the signals into their destinations and reduces the error rate by a rate of almost 50 percent. But this was obviously written by the end user of the calculations who also understands the theory behind the operation of the drive.

"Wow," Tom said, awed and speechless at her praise.

"Have I managed to perform the miracle of shutting up Tom Paris," B'Elanna said with a laugh.

Tom looked at her for a minute, opening his mouth once or twice to respond before finally saying, "Maybe, Commander."

For a minute B'Elanna just looked at him, trying to decipher his mystery. She understood that he had spent the last seven years in prison, but did not expect the drastic changes she had seen in his actions.

Now that she thought about it, he had always been focused while on duty in the Maquis. The change was the fact that he was now carrying that focus the rest of the time. He only drank one glass of wine at dinner, and had taken a glass of iced tea out onto the patio, even though everyone else had made a stop at the wet bar in the house for something a little stronger, including herself. Whereas in the Maquis, he was only sober when on duty.

He used to use his quick wit to tear into other people when he was in the Maquis. It was as if he was trying to bring them to his level of suffering. Now, he still had the same quick reactions, but he used them differently. He joked with others, using his wit to lighten the situation or provide interesting commentary. The only person he put down anymore appeared to be himself.

In the Maquis, he had thrown himself at almost anything that was female. It appeared that he only had a few rules which were in most cases the women were attractive and not underage. Now, the only person he had really done any flirting with was herself. That broke the attractiveness rule, because he certainly couldn't be interested in a half-Klingon.

If she was being honest with herself, there was a physical attraction there. But that wasn't what she was looking for. More importantly, there was a person she could respect and appreciate. He had shown that he wasn't afraid of infuriating her, or standing up to her when she focused her irritation on him. Maybe it was time to bury the hatchet. It wasn't really fair to hold his past against him. After all, it would be nice if people didn't hold her heritage against her.

"Why do you always call me Commander?" she asked.

Tom looked at her for a moment, trying to figure out the reason behind the question. "Back in the Maquis you hated when I called you by your first name, so I figured you would appreciate it if I used your rank."

"Well, Paris," B'Elanna said, "You call everyone else here by their names, so I guess I don't mind if you do that for me as well."

A huge smile broke out over Tom's face as he responded, "Thanks Torres."

Shortly thereafter, Kathleen brought out the apple and cherry pies she had made for dessert. Tom and B'Elanna rejoined the group, with a promise to go over the specs more at a later time. For the next hour, the seven of them sat and talked about everything and nothing, just enjoying a quiet night overlooking the bay. Soon it was time for everyone to head home, since all but Kathleen had to work in the morning. However, before leaving, everyone agreed that this was definitely an activity that should be done again soon.

* * *

**_Postings are going to be a lot less regular from now on. RL is really busy and I'm having a little bit of writer's block on the next chapter, so my next post will probably be near the end of the month. The good news is I already have some great material written for chapters 12 & 13, so they may follow quicker..._**


	11. Chapter 11

**_Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun. _**

**_Thanks to starrylaa for her beta_**

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 11

The rest of the week seemed to pass by quickly, until there was only half a day before the weekend. Tom had hoped he would be able to take out the Delta Flyer or do a test run on the Darwin before now, but they had been busy on the Holodeck. When Starfleet upgraded the technology on the Holodeck, they eliminated some of the subroutines that were critical to the operation of the simulations they had used on Voyager. With the simple battle simulations and asteroid fields they had used on Tuesday, the errors had been minor or nonexistent. But as soon as they tried to load the coaxial drive program into the Holodeck, it crashed. It took Seven, Harry and B'Elanna days to work out the kinks in the programming that prevented the Borg inspired upgrades to work with the Holodeck programming. Every time they thought they had it, it would crash again.

On Wednesday morning, they only let Tom help by test piloting the scenarios. Whenever it crashed they relegated him to a corner of the Holodeck while they discussed Borg algorithms and Holodeck engineering. Of course Tom was quickly bored, so he grabbed a Padd and downloaded some of the other Holodeck programs loaded into the system.

When they broke for lunch, they realized that he had been sitting there working on the Padd for hours. Over lunch in the cafeteria, to which Harry literally dragged B'Elanna and Seven away from their work to join them, the questions as to what he was doing came up.

"So," B'Elanna started, "What's kept you out of my hair for the last three hours?"

With mock indignation Tom answered, "That's not fair; I haven't once touched your hair since we started this project. Though, I'm sure it could be arranged," he finished with a suggestive wagging of his eyebrows and raising his hand toward her.

"The Commander was using the expression to indicate that you were not bothering her," Seven clarified.

Struggling to maintain a straight face, Tom replied, "I didn't realize that. Thank you for the clarification."

Ignoring the snickers of the others, Seven asked, "What Holodeck program are you working on?"

Shocked, Tom asked, "How did you know what I was doing?"

"When you entered the turbolift, your Padd was activated," Seven replied. "The programming was consistent with a Holodeck program."

"I've actually been working on two this morning," Tom said. "First I downloaded Chakotay's Sandrine's program. I was curious as to what it looked like."

"You can tell that from the code?" Harry asked, in a little awe. "I'm good with programming, especially for the Holodeck, but how do you see it in three dimensional space?"

"I guess a more accurate description of what I was doing would be examining the character algorithms and interaction protocols," Tom responded. "I can get the general layout from the code and a two dimensional representation on the Padd, but without running it, I can't place everything in the space, even though I've been to the real Sandrine's. I was actually interested in how Chakotay depicted Sandrine. I was actually working on my own program of the place while I was in the Maquis."

"Chakotay mentioned that he had found an outline of the program sitting in the Mess Hall of the Liberty when they did the last overhaul," B'Elanna said.

"It was probably mine," Tom answered, "Since some of the programming, especially on Sandrine, looks very much like something I would have written. I actually have a Sandrine's program that I wrote while in Auckland at home, but as I said, it's hard to get the layout and three dimensional elements without a Holodeck."

"I actually have a couple of programs like that at home," Tom continued. "I had plenty of downtime to write them, but nowhere to run them. Harry and I took a comic book series and created a Holonovel where you can play whichever character you want. I think we had twenty six chapters mapped out by the time I left. I'd love to get some Holodeck time so I can work on the setting."

"The bit of programming I saw," Seven interjected, "Had astrometric data in it, in addition to Holo-programming code."

"That's because I was playing with the pilot training simulations in Voyager's database," Tom answered. "Those are fairly easy to work on without three dimensions."

"You create piloting scenarios without a Holodeck?" Harry said in shock.

"Not from scratch," Tom answered. "I modified the existing parameters, using actual astrometric data pulled from the Voyager database."

At everyone's shocked looks, he continued, "I take the existing, basic scenario and make it more challenging. Rather than a generic asteroid field, I make it one that puts the asteroid field leading into the Badlands or where there are mines hidden in the field. The problem with Starfleet pilot training scenarios is that the difference between level one and level five is the speed of the craft and the density of the issue you are dealing with. I find that damaging the craft or putting an additional barrier after you think you are done is more effective in preparing for real life. If you are ready for the next shoe to drop, you will be more alert, because there is always the possibility of something else happening, and more cautious, because any damage you take at the start may very well be there for more than just one tricky scenario."

"So you were sitting in the corner writing pilot training scenarios using data from Voyager to modify said programs, neither of which you've seen except in data form," B'Elanna stated.

"Yes," Tom said with a shrug, not understanding what the big deal was.

"You didn't think to offer to help us," B'Elanna continued still in shock over his revelation.

"Two reasons," Tom answered. "One, you told me to go over there and leave you alone, so I was trying to follow orders."

At B'Elanna's look of disbelief, he continued, "Secondly, you were discussing Borg algorithms, which I have absolutely no experience with. I haven't dealt with a working Holodeck, except for yesterday and today, in over seven years, and only a handful of times in the two years prior to that. I've been programming piloting scenarios since I was ten, so that's old hat for me. Besides, would you have even listened to any suggestions I would have had?"

There was silence for a minute as everyone digested what he said. Then, realizing the time, they began to gather their trays for disposal so they could return to work in the Holodeck. As they started to leave, the silence was finally broken.

"You're right," B'Elanna said quietly. "I probably would have dismissed your suggestions, just like I didn't believe you could have helped with developing a slipstream drive." She waited a few moments until they stepped onto the turbolift. "I'm shocked: no 'I told you so.'"

"Programming is a hobby," Tom replied. "I do it for fun. But if you think I can help you, I'm more than willing to try."

For the next few days, Tom sat in with them as they went over some of the Holo-programming line by line trying to correct the errors. Most of the time he was quiet, as many of the Borg algorithms were unfamiliar. But he was also an outside set of eyes that could spot where the regular programming was causing problems.

After a grueling day and a half of more work, Friday morning they were finally able to run the simulations of the Darwin's first two flights using the coaxial drive. They still had some compatibility issues with the programming for Voyager, but at least they were able to make some progress.

Tom had a blast with the drive. Rather than try to all cram into the Class Two Darwin shuttle, the others watched from a control room they built into the side of the program. Plus, it added to the realism, since the Captain had flown it alone. Predictably, considering the level of Tom's piloting skills, the rest of the group was awed when he eliminated all the turbulence and minor damage that the Darwin had undergone in the original flights on his first run through. True he had seen the logs and readouts from the flight, but he hadn't flown anything like it before and yet his flights were near perfection.

After spending the morning on running the programs on the Darwin, Harry and Seven started discussing the Borg algorithms issue with the Voyager program again over another lunch in the cafeteria. When they started discussing the intricacies of the Borg language, Tom felt his eyes start to glaze over.

"Does he really speak Borg?" he asked B'Elanna in an amused whisper as she looked onto the other's discussing with a little boredom as well.

"Yeah," she replied. "He decided it would be fun to learn it a few years ago, and is actually pretty good with manipulating it for use on Voyager."

"He must have been trying to get her to notice him," Tom said.

Hearing that, B'Elanna perked right up. She tried to hide her shock at his words but obviously didn't do a very good job as he continued. "While it obviously didn't succeed long term, since she's apparently with Chakotay now, she's just the type of women he would go after."

"What do you mean?" B'Elanna asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the others with this conversation.

Sensing her desire for the other two to remain oblivious to the conversation, Tom hesitated in answering her question. Looking at the other two, B'Elanna considered for a minute before speaking. "They are going to be speaking Borg for the rest of the day; you said you needed an engineer to go out on the test flight of the Darwin, right?"

Tom took a moment to switch gears, realizing she was offering him a chance to fly a real craft, and answered happily. "I'd like one with me. I'm thinking that either the plasma injectors need to be replaced or something else is causing the error and if that's the case, it may fail in a major way when I take it up. I could probably fix it enough to get back, but since I'm on a project with a ton of engineers, I figured we could spare one to go up on the test flight."

Shaking her head as she listened into the others for a minute, B'Elanna said, "I can't sit and listen to them anymore. I already have approval from the Admiral to take the Darwin out, let me just get the flight plan and we'll go check it out."

"Right now," Tom said excitedly.

"Let me go contact Starfleet control for clearance," B'Elanna replied as she stood to clear her lunch dishes. "I'll meet you in the Shuttle Bay in fifteen minutes."

The grin that overtook Tom's face as he quickly cleared his own dishes and headed up, was glowing enough to light a room.

Fifteen minutes later, Tom was finishing up the preflight as B'Elanna walked through the hatch and closed up the shuttle.

"When I said I needed an engineer," Tom said in greeting, "I expected you to send one of your people."

"If there's a chance of a problem, I like to be there," B'Elanna replied.

"You don't trust your people," Tom said in a teasing voice.

"I just trust myself more," she replied the same way.

"Well I'm glad to have you along," Tom said as he gestured for her to come look at the readouts. "We already flushed the plasma injectors, and I still get these readings. The maintenance logs say they were recently replaced, so I don't have a clue what's wrong."

"Depending on if we bought or replicated the part," B'Elanna answered, "Who knows if it was defective and just didn't show up on scans. Let's take it slow so that we don't crash the whole warp drive."

"I'm contacting Starfleet control for takeoff clearance now," Tom answered. After a moment he continued. "We're cleared, but they want us to keep it at full impulse until we pass Mars, so we have two hours until we can really test it."

"Opening Shuttle Bay doors," B'Elanna said.

"Engaging thrusters," Tom replied, "Beginning ascent."

"Closing Shuttle Bay doors," B'Elanna said.

"Exiting San Francisco airspace," Tom said. "Entering flight pattern enroute to Mars."

After another couple minutes of button pushing, Tom relaxed as they were slowly making their way out of Earth's atmosphere and towards Mars. Turning to B'Elanna, he shot her a teasing grin and said "So, it looks like we have a little while, what do you want to do?"

"Only you would make everything a suggestive joke," B'Elanna replied with an eye roll.

"Hey," Tom said, trying to act offended, "We're stuck in this Class Two shuttle for another few hours. I was simply asking if you wanted to play checkers. You were the one who interpreted my comments as innuendo."

"So did you bring your checkers with you?" B'Elanna said shaking her head.

"No," Tom replied as B'Elanna began to laugh, "But I'm sure I can bring a game up on the computer."

The bantering continued for a while, until B'Elanna remembered the topic they had started back in the cafeteria. "So do you want to explain your comment you made during lunch about Harry?"

"Don't get me wrong," Tom began, "I think Harry's a great guy and hope he doesn't mind that I think of him as a friend. But, he walked on board Voyager an extremely green ensign with a girl at home. Then he was thrown across the galaxy on a possible seventy year voyage. He doesn't want to betray the girl, as evidenced by the fact that they are trying again now that he is home, but doesn't want to be alone for the voyage either. So I'm betting he went after either unavailable women or those who he wouldn't match up well with."

"So which is Seven?" B'Elanna asked, genuinely curious to see it from an outsider's perspective.

"She's both," he replied. "If his learning Borg was a couple years ago, she was just freed from the collective and therefore nowhere near ready for a relationship. Even now, I can see how hard she still needs to work to try to interact with others in even the most basic 'human' ways."

"True," B'Elanna replied. "There are times she can out logic a Vulcan."

"Sounds like fun," Tom replied. "And that is why she wouldn't have made a good match with him. He needs someone as open and trusting as he is, which is neither Seven nor you."

"Me?" B'Elanna replied in shock, desperately hoping her voice hadn't just squeaked.

"From your reactions the first day," Tom answered, "I'm betting you two either tried something, or he had a crush on you that became public. Like with Seven, you are a beautiful woman who he respects on the job, but would never work long term, due to the fact you would probably intimidate him if you ever tried anything romantic. Heck, I can tell you intimidate him just working with him sometimes."

Trying to lighten the mood, B'Elanna said, "So I'm betting that Seven is your type, if she was a little more human."

"Nope," Tom said, looking B'Elanna in the eye as he replied. "She's pretty, though I tend to prefer brunettes. But she is way too logical and unemotional. I'm having fun being her friend and joking with her, but I've realized that I'm looking for someone a whole lot more fiery who will push me right back whenever I get out of control."

For a moment he continued to look at her, trying to convey his interest. She was starting to get a little embarrassed at the attention and quickly tried to diverte his attention. Noticing how close they were to Mars, she glanced at the readouts she said, "Thirty seconds to Mars airspace."

Turning back to his controls, Tom was all business. "Obtaining clearance from Mars control. We are cleared for warp in one minute."

Turning her concentration to the task at hand B'Elanna replied, "Let's take her up to warp one for a couple of minutes so I can get some reading before jumping to higher warp speeds. It's been a few months since we last took this shuttle out, so I want to work up slowly."

"Engaging warp engines," Tom said. Double checking a few readings he then pushed a few more buttons and announced, "Now at warp one."

"I'm not showing any problems with the plasma injectors," B'Elanna said, after they had held speed for two minutes. "Let's increase to warp two."

"Increasing speed to warp two," Tom said. Not even ten seconds later he was quickly punching more buttons, "Shutting down warp drive. Plasma injectors are locked open."

"Can you handle a manual shutdown at warp two?" B'Elanna asked as her fingers flew over her own console, worry evident in her voice.

"Done it once live and quite a few sims," Tom said confidently, "But brace yourself because it will get rough."

"Manual shutdown in five seconds," B'Elanna warned.

"Impulse engines on standby, inertial dampers at maximum," Tom replied as the shuttle lurched with the sudden shutdown of the warp engines. Sheer will kept him anchored in his seat, while B'Elanna took a second to grasp the console as she preformed the shutdown. With fingers flying, it only took Tom another three seconds to control the shuttle. "Impulse engines only responding at half power."

"We've also lost shields," B'Elanna said. "I'm rerouting communications, and should have them in another minute."

"Not bad," Tom said in relief. "I thought we were going to lose impulse as well. Plus it would have taken me another ten minutes to get communications up. I'm glad you decided to come along."

"It was certainly much more exciting than listening to discussions of Borg syntax," B'Elanna said. "Communications are up."

"Contacting Mars control," Tom said. "They're offering to tow us in, if necessary."

"Impulse was only slightly damaged," B'Elanna replied. "It should hold up to return to San Francisco, but it's your call."

"I hate being tractored," Tom said. "If you can keep the engine running, I'll drive us home."

"You just don't want to let anyone else drive," B'Elanna joked back before turning serious. "I would have had a whole lot less work if you had been on Voyager. We probably would have at least lost impulse power completely and communications for a few hours if Chakotay was piloting."

"Thank you, ma'am," Tom said with a grin, "I'm glad you like the service."

"You're an arrogant pig," B'Elanna answered with a scowl.

"I may be," Tom replied, "But this pig will have you back in the Shuttle Bay just before quitting time."

"Not at half impulse," B'Elanna replied. "It'll take us another four hours back to Earth."

"Give me a second," Tom replied at he kept working at his console. "Got it! I've isolated the relay that was blown out by the warp shutdown."

B'Elanna turned her attention to his console before bringing up the information on her own. "You're right, I'm attempting a bypass now. Automated controls are not working."

Standing up, B'Elanna went to a console a few feet behind Tom and opened the panel. While she was opening it, Tom grabbed her tools that she brought on board and started looking through. Grabbing her tricorder, B'Elanna isolated the problem and asked Tom, "Can you grab the…"

Before she could finish her sentence, the correct tool appeared in her outstretched hand. Tom spoke before she brought the tool in front of her. "I'll monitor the power levels in the drive."

Working together, it only took another few minutes to make the necessary adjustments and increase speed to full impulse.

With a huge grin, Tom said, "Estimated arrival time in the Shuttle Bay is seventeen twenty nine."

"Pig," was B'Elanna's only response.

"At least you'll have time to get ready for your hot date tonight," Tom replied.

"If you call my intention to spend time in my bed," intending to stop there, B'Elanna realized how Tom would take that statement and continued, "Alone. Then yes, I have a hot date."

"Sounds exciting," Tom said with a laugh. "We should do something this weekend."

"We?" B'Elanna replied, confused that he might be asking her out on a date.

"Yeah, you, me, Harry, Seven, Libby and Chakotay." Tom said, realizing that it wasn't the right time to ask her on a date. "Maybe we can meet up at Sandrine's tomorrow for some beer and maybe play pool."

"That sounds good," B'Elanna said. "I'll send a message ahead to them and see if they're available. We've spent a lot of time getting used to being on Earth, so Tuesday was a great chance to reconnect with friends."

After thinking for a moment, B'Elanna continued. "If we're going to Sandrine's, do you mind if I invite the Admiral. She loves a good game of pool."

"Fine with me," Tom said. "I just want to hang out with my friends and have some fun."

* * *

**_I'm working on the next chapter, but I've got a little bit of writers block right now, so it will be at least a few weeks before I can get it up. I can tell you that next chapter will have the group at Sandrines and our favorite two spending time alone outside of work._**


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun.

**_Thanks to starrylaa for her beta_**

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 12

The night, actually the afternoon at Sandrine's, went surprisingly well. Due to the nine hour time difference between San Francisco and Marseille, they actually met up at Sandrine's at fourteen hundred hours, San Francisco time for their evening out.

Chakotay and Seven were unable to make it, but Admiral Janeway did stop by for a while, beating all comers at the pool table. Tom found it was nice to spend a relaxing couple hours with his 'superiors' especially since the first words out of the Admiral's mouth were, "Since you're not Starfleet, call me Kathryn." Of course then she proceeded to whip his butt at pool, though he did get in a few good shots before she cleared all the strips and the eight ball off the table.

In between rounds, the five of them sat and talked. It was easy to see how Harry still looked up to his former captain. While it wasn't the absolute devotion that Tom was sure he exhibited when he first walked on Voyager, it was respect and admiration earned through a tough six years in the Delta Quadrant.

After a couple hours, the Admiral headed out, commenting that she had a great time, but it was time for the kids to enjoy their evening. Since it wasn't even dinner time back in San Francisco, Tom teased her about needing to get home in time for early bird specials. It took the threat of revealing embarrassing childhood stories told by his father to her for him to let her go in peace, but on her way out, she promised to share them another time.

After the Admiral left, they decided to sit down for a while and relax. The conversation between them was easy, flowing from topic to topic. They talked about everything from their favorite music genre to their favorite vacation planet.

Mostly Tom and Libby refrained from directly questioning anything regarding Voyager, not wanting to put Harry and B'Elanna on the spot. But of course the last six years couldn't stay completely out of the conversation, since it did dominate so much of their lives. To a lesser extent, Tom's last seven years were brought up, but being that he was required to stay in one location with few visitors and little turnover in inhabitants, there was little to discuss.

Instead it was a group of friends enjoying time together, slowly getting to know each other. Even though Harry and B'Elanna had spent so much time together as friends in the past six years, it was obvious that even they had a lot to learn about each other.

One very good thing for both Tom and Libby was the observations they were able to make about the two former Voyager crew. While they obviously had a very good friendship and working relationship, there was absolutely no sexual chemistry between the two. While it had been alluded to at various points that they may have tried to be more than friends, that experiment had obviously failed and they were able to return to a friendship.

"I have to say that there is one major downside to being stationed planet side," Harry said.

"And what could that be?" Tom asked.

"The lack of a Holodeck," Harry replied.

"And where were you all week, Starfleet?" B'Elanna said in surprise.

"That's different," Harry explained. "That was for work. Here in Sandrine's it is almost closing time. If we were on Voyager, we could just reset the hours and stay here for as long as we want. Instead, we haven't even had dinner yet."

"So," B'Elanna replied, "We'll get dinner in San Francisco once we're done here."

"I know," Harry said, "But I guess I got used to being able to use them any time we wanted. Even if we couldn't exclusive time, there was always a public program running at least every couple days."

"Once we have the problems solved on the compatibility issue," B'Elanna said, "I'll be able to allow those on the project to schedule time for private use of the Holodeck."

"But that could be a while," Harry said. "I guess I just got spoiled with being able to take my runs on whatever planet I felt like."

"Have you checked out the running trail at the Presidio?" Tom asked.

"No," Harry answered, "I haven't had a chance."

"How about we meet up tomorrow at nine?" Tom asked, then turning to the other two at the table he continued, "And you are welcome as well."

"No thanks," Libby answered. "I'll let Harry do the running. I'm more of a yoga kind of girl."

"I don't think you can keep up," B'Elanna said with a grin.

"I'm pretty sure I can," Tom replied. "Running is what helped keep me sane for the last seven years. It was a chance to just feel free, or at least as free as you can feel with an ankle monitor attached."

"One reason they kept me at the Academy so long," B'Elanna said, "Is that they didn't want to lose me off their track team. If you want to go running, I'm sure you'll enjoy eating my dust."

"I doubt you'll be that fast," Tom said with a wide grin. "But if you are, I'll just sit back and enjoy the view."

"Pig," B'Elanna said as she slapped Tom and the rest of the table burst into laughter.

*****

Tom was already waiting at the entrance to the Presidio running trail when B'Elanna arrived the next morning. He took a moment to enjoy the view before she saw him. She was beautiful in her uniform and the casual clothes she wore the previous night, but she was breathtaking in the simple track suit she was wearing this morning.

After only a few moments of looking, she spied Tom and headed for him. "Harry just commed me. Libby's parents are insisting on brunch this morning, so if you want to cancel…"

Tom interrupted before she could continue. "Afraid you can't keep up?"

Her eyes flashed in anger before she gestured for them to start and took off at a brisk pace. "I can keep up just fine, can you?"

Tom quickly caught up and matched pace with her. His longer legs allowing him to not get too winded keeping up with her quick pace. Glancing sideways at her, he admired the fire in her eyes before answering, "I'll be right beside you as long as you want."

For a few minutes they ran next to each other quietly, measuring the speed and endurance of their running partner. Each was impressed and they quickly settled into a comfortable pace.

Finding his stride, Tom decided to break the silence and find out a little more about the intriguing woman he was with. "So, what's it like being back on Starfleet grounds?"

"Not what I expected," B'Elanna replied.

"How so?" Tom responded.

"I'm used to being a curiosity," B'Elanna said. "Being the only half-Klingon at the Academy caused quite a stir."

"I remember," Tom said.

"You were there?" B'Elanna asked.

"Yup," Tom replied. "You started when I was in my final year."

"I thought you were older," B'Elanna replied.

"I'm plenty old now," Tom said with a laugh. "But I'm only three years older than you."

"Four," B'Elanna interjected. "I started a year early. Wait, how do you know how old I am? Did you look it up?"

"Actually it's three." Tom replied, avoiding her question, not wanting to admit he had looked up all the data he could after seeing her again that first day. "I entered the academy prep school a year early. I knew the Starfleet regulations and history from being drilled since birth, so I was able to coast on those classes and make up the work I'd missed by skipping with that extra time. Dad wasn't happy that I wasn't acing everything, but Mom calmed him down after reminding him that he was the one who pushed for me to skip."

"They moved me up a year when I started explaining how the teachers were doing it wrong," B'Elanna said, "And they didn't want to have to admit I was correct."

"Sounds like a couple of the instructors at the academy," Tom said with a laugh.

"They tried to put me in the introductory engineering course for a week," B'Elanna said. "Took a little urging, but they finally let me enroll in a higher level course.

"Was that when security was called out to stop the fight between a cadet and Captain Masen?" Tom asked.

"I never actually hit him," B'Elanna replied angrily, before taking a deep breath and continuing more calmly. "I wasn't actually going to follow through with my threat to torture him with pain sticks until he could comprehend that plasma injectors need to be calibrated exactly right for the warp drive to function correctly. You'd think he had never worked in an engineering department from the crap he was trying to pass off in that class."

"Sounds like fun," Tom said with a smile. "I'm amazed they didn't expel you out for that."

"No," B'Elanna answered, "They were enjoying the renewed diplomatic interest from the Klingons. I was good for peace in the Alpha Quadrant, so I was given anger management and extra PT and post duty."

"I hated post duty," Tom said with a shake of his head. "I have no problem sitting at a conn for eight hours without a break, but I can't hold parade rest for more than ten minutes without fidgeting."

"Try doing it," B'Elanna responded, "In the winter when your Klingon genes are made to survive in on Kronos, try not shivering in the San Francisco air."

"So how are you not freezing this morning?" Tom asked

"After I couldn't welcome an Admiral because my teeth were chattering too much, they decided I could wear layers," B'Elanna said with a laugh. "G…g…g…ood E…e…eve…n…n…ning"

Tom started laughing, slowing down a little as he tried to breath, run and laugh at the same time. "I know it wasn't my father, as he would have had you expelled on the spot for insubordination."

"No," B'Elanna said. "It was Admiral T'Lara a Vulcan."

"You were very lucky," Tom replied as he had regained control over his breathing and they were able to resume their previous pace. "Many of the Admirals get their daily fun from tormenting cadets."

"So what were you doing at the Academy while I was standing watch?" B'Elanna asked.

"I was getting into trouble and avoiding getting caught," Tom said with a laugh. "I had sneaking into the dorms down to a science by that point."

"Did you share your skills with your conquests?" B'Elanna said sarcastically.

"Actually, I was seeing Ricki at that point," Tom answered. "She was based in France, so most of the time I was just hanging with my friends. Ricki only wanted to go out if we could be seen, which I wasn't about to risk if I was supposed to be in the dorm after curfew."

"I take it she wasn't a fellow cadet," B'Elanna said, trying to appear uninterested.

"No," Tom answered, happy that B'Elanna was interested in his history. He hoped that it meant that she saw him as more than just a friend. "I meant her while I did my physical training in Marseille. I used to hang out at Sandrine's for a couple hours between my evening classes and Nova Squadron practice. I figured out later she wanted the prestige of dating a famous Starfleet Admiral's kid. She dumped me right after I told her that the accident was my fault. I think the only reason I got the engagement ring back is it looked good for the video for her to throw it back at me. Right before I joined the Maquis I saw an announcement that she had married an Admiral. I think she got tired of waiting to be a celebrity."

"I had quite a few of the cadets try to date me just so they could say they were with a Klingon," B'Elanna said, surprising herself with her candor.

"I'm sorry," Tom said, not really knowing what to say. "I can sympathize with people wanting to date you for whom your parents are. But it was different for me since I really didn't care about the reasons back then; I thought I was enjoying myself."

For a few minutes they ran in silence once again, both a little uncomfortable with the revelations they had made to the other. Tom was thinking back to his last year at the Academy when he remembered something.

"You worked with Captain Brandon your first year," Tom asked.

"Yes," B'Elanna answered in surprise.

"We had a problem with one of the engineers on Nova Squadron toward the end of the year and were thinking about bringing on someone new," Tom replied. "Captain Brandon was the advisor for the engineers and said he had a first year who was amazing, but my head engineer said that he didn't want to have to train a plebe, especially so close to the competition. I shouldn't have listened to him. I put that engineer on my shuttle so I could keep an eye on him and double check his work. I missed that he installed a relay too loosely so it came undone during the last minute of the competition and I lost a quarter of my systems in a cascade failure."

"Ouch," B'Elanna said.

"Luckily it didn't take out my drive or thrusters, just the computer controls," Tom said. "I learned to pilot on manual controls, so I finished fine, but I'm not sure either of them ever recovered from the dressing down I gave them. I'm betting the first year he was recommending was you."

Captain Brandon had me meet with a fourth year cadet," B'Elanna took a minute to think of his name, while she continued. "He was quite upset that I wasn't jumping at his offer to show him what it was like to sleep with a Klingon."

"That sounds like Laurent," Tom said.

"That name sounds right," B'Elanna replied. "We met in the shuttle bay and he was more than happy to let me show him how he was installing the relays wrong until I told him that there wasn't room for two in the cockpit and backed it up by breaking his nose when he tried to force the issue. I was almost suspended from the track team for that one."

"He told us that he was injured in a bar fight," Tom said with a laugh.

In the distance they could see that they were approaching the end of the trail. Tom quickly sobered up, unhappy that his time with her was almost over. They slowed down and began their cool down together.

Deciding that she wasn't going to say anything, Tom finally spoke up. "Thanks for joining me. It was nice to get out. Would you like to do it again later this week?"

"How about next weekend?" B'Elanna replied. She was surprised at how good of a time she had talking with him. He was always surprising her at how much she enjoyed spending time with him.

"Next Saturday," Tom said, pleasantly surprised that she agreed so easily. "Same time, same place."

"I can do that," B'Elanna answered as she finished up her stretches. Looking at him for a moment as he was doing his, she realized that she enjoyed spending time with him and decided to take a chance on friendship. "I should have time to finish looking over the specs in the next couple days."

"Wonderful," Tom said excitedly. "I'd love to get your feedback."

"How about we plan to stay after work on Tuesday?" B'Elanna said. "We can get some food and discuss the design."

"I think that is a great idea," Tom replied. Deciding to head off and end things on a high note, he finished his stretches and turned toward the exit. "Do you want to get some coffee, or do you have plans?"

B'Elanna shook her head before heading for the exit as well. She had the same idea, to end their morning on a pleasant note. "I've got a couple of things I need to take care of this morning. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Tom said as he watched her walk away. She was a challenge to get to know, but he had a feeling it would be worth it.

* * *

**_ I hope you all still think this story is worth it..._**

**_I'm going on vacation in a few weeks, but I will try to have the next chapter posted before I leave._**


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun.

**_Thanks to starrylaa and Lady Arreya for their beta_**

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 13

Monday morning on the job started almost the same way as the prior week. Again all eyes turned to Tom as he walked off the turbolift and into the main room for the scheduled staff meeting, but the intent of the looks was different this time. Instead of dislike or disdain, the stares were filled with admiration and respect. Apparently the details of Tom and B'Elanna's shuttle flight on the Darwin had made their way through the gossip mill and the response was positive. The general consensus was that Tom's piloting had definitely made the difference between a small, repairable problem and the possibility of a destroyed shuttle.

Again B'Elanna calmly led the meeting, this time breaking them into three groups. The first group was the new engineers assigned to the project who were to examine the current coaxial drive programming and see where they thought any improvements should come. The second group was a number of Voyager engineers who were assigned to overhaul the Darwin, repairing all the damage from the incident and ensuring that the coaxial drive hadn't been damaged.

The third group consisted of Harry, Seven, Tom, B'Elanna and the remaining Voyager engineers who were going through the Holodeck program trying to get it to run. By the time Harry and Seven left on Friday, they had solved almost all the compatibility issues but were having problems locating the last few errors.

The third group moved into the Holodeck and started the program. Harry and Seven had managed to get the Holodeck to run the program but were unable to access all the glitches. They knew at some point the program would freeze, but needed to run it to find the error.

Tom took the helm on Voyager's bridge, while B'Elanna manned the bridge engineering console, Harry at Ops and Seven at Tactical. The remaining engineers were stationed in Engineering.

"Do you mind if I run a few maneuvers to get a feel for Voyager's responses now that all the modifications are in place?" Tom asked as he sat down at his station.

"Please do," B'Elanna replied. "The coaxial drive system caused a slight drop in the responsiveness of the helm."

"How much of a delay are we talking about?" Tom asked, turning toward her station with a concerned expression.

"The processing time is slowed by only about .25 seconds," Harry answered.

"That's the first thing you need to correct on the drive," Tom responded. "That kind of delay will significantly increase the damage sustained coming out of the fold in space."

"A human cannot react that quickly," Seven stated. "The quickest a human can process commands at the helm is .5 seconds."

"But you are forgetting the influence of instinct," Tom said.

"Instinct is irrelevant," Seven replied.

"Instinct and anticipation had my clocked reaction time down to .1 seconds when I was timed at the Academy," Tom said.

"That is impossible," Seven stated again. "That was not in your official records."

"I can try to demonstrate in a standard piloting simulation, but usually the computers don't process as fast as a real shuttle craft," Tom replied. "It wasn't in the official records because I went off the approved course in the testing area for the advanced piloting final. I completed the exercise, but my detour through the asteroid field was penalized with a two minute penalty resulting in my official score falling to well within the normal piloting parameters."

"Is there any rule you haven't broken?" B'Elanna asked as she finished reviewing the preflight data. "Voyager is ready to launch."

"Powering impulse drive," Tom said. "As for remaining rules to be broken, last count was that I had broken at least one hundred Starfleet regulations, and that was before I joined the Maquis."

"Engaging evasive pattern delta." Tom said as he continued. "Of course it's pretty easy to break most of the 'respect your superior officer' ones, which numbered at least seventy-five different regulations eleven years ago according to my father, when you are cursing your father for withdrawing your name from consideration for being a test pilot. I think I got in everything from not saluting to striking a superior officer when I pushed him out of my way on my way out the door. Engaging pattern Beta One."

"You what!" Harry said in shock.

"At the time I wanted to deck him," Tom answered. "Engaging warp eight. But I figured that as mad as I was at him, I didn't want to end up in the brig. Dropping to impulse, evasive pattern Gamma Two."

"I know what you mean," B'Elanna said. "I'm reading a slight drop in the plasma flow rate."

"Correcting now," Harry answered.

"I wanted to clock a few Admirals on my way out the door after I resigned," B'Elanna continued. "But I didn't want to be stuck with Starfleet, especially not in the brig."

"Dropping to one-quarter impulse, engaging auxiliary maneuvering thrusters," Tom said. "You didn't want to take a tour of the brigs of Starfleet? I had a buddy who managed to try out six different starship brigs as well as the one at the Academy and the one at Headquarters before he was finally discharged from Starfleet."

"That takes talent," B'Elanna said with a laugh.

"Talent, or a desire to have a good time and damn the consequences," Tom said. "I managed to stay out of the brig until I was captured with the Maquis. Breaking the rules is only fun if you're around to laugh about it the next day. Sneaking out of the dorms after curfew breaks ten different regulations, and assisting another student to break said regulations adds five more violations. The other ten were mostly related to my departure from Starfleet. Full Stop."

"I now see a slight elevation in the plasma flow rate now," B'Elanna said.

"The readings weren't consistent with the maneuvers," Tom said. "I'm pretty sure we found one of the glitches."

"Will it cause too much disruption to test the drive?" B'Elanna asked the rest of the crew on the bridge.

"The coaxial drive should remain unaffected by the minute irregularities in the plasma flow," Seven answered.

"I should be able to control the rate while the drive is operating," Harry answered confidently.

"If we breach the warp core, it's just the Holodeck," Tom said with a grin. "More seriously, unless you know how to fix it right away, I'd like a shot at the drive before we go searching around the code again."

After another look around the room to ensure that everyone was ready, B'Elanna spoke. "Prepare to engage coaxial drive."

"Engaging full impulse," Tom began. "Engaging coaxial drive. The drive is commencing the transition to coaxial space. Approaching full power. Entering the fold. Preparing to disengage at a distance of ten light years. Disengaging coaxial drive."

"Oops," Tom said, falling to the floor as the chair disappeared from under him. The engineers assisting B'Elanna's group stood in the corner where the bridge wall used to be as the simulation suddenly stopped.

"Report," B'Elanna said as she picked herself up off the floor and headed toward the Holodeck control panel. Rather than bring up the Voyager program, she simply added a few control panels so that they could examine the logs without leaving the Holodeck.

"That would be glitch number three," Tom said as he tried to make himself comfortable on the floor.

"Are you sure you didn't do anything to shut the Holodeck down?" B'Elanna queried before realizing that she missed something in Tom's previous statement. Turning back to him she asked, "Three?"

"The second glitch was a stutter in the program as we jumped into the fold as well," Tom said. "For a second it appeared that we were in conventional warp according to the reading on my controls, even if it didn't show on the view screen."

"Seven, Harry?" B'Elanna questioned.

"Mr. Paris is correct," Seven answered. "The log shows a 1.25 second delay in processing in which the ship appeared to engage the warp drive."

"The computer showed the effects of being at warp five," Harry said as he scanned his screen. "Though only the coaxial drive was activated or functioning at the time."

"We have a starting place," B'Elanna stated. "Let's get to work."

The next three attempts at reprogramming resulted in additional failures.

The one before they took a lunch break had the warp drive breach whenever Tom attempted to engage the coaxial drive. By the third run-through of that particular programming scenario, he was racing to see if he could blow up the ship before B'Elanna disengaged the program. Unfortunately, she was pretty fast at preventing Voyager, even a fake one, from exploding.

After lunch, Tom managed to engage the coaxial drive at least in theory, but the computer interpreted the command as a request for warp nine point nine seven five. While quite a nice rate of speed, it wasn't quite what they were looking for.

The final attempt for the day was loaded into the Holodeck less than half an hour before their scheduled end of the day. Of course the former Voyager crew was quite used to working well after their shifts in the past, but they had grown used to having free time now that they were on Earth. Apparently in their haste to finish this program they inserted an additional error even earlier in the program. As soon as Tom brought the helm online, the program crashed.

At that point B'Elanna dismissed everyone for the day and told them if they continued to make the problem worse, she would make sure they brushed up on their starship maintenance skills the next evening by cleaning the warp core and plasma injectors manually, with a toothbrush. Not surprisingly, everyone took home a PADD with the Holodeck program on it to study that evening.

******

Tuesday morning was much more productive than the previous day, at least on progress in the Holodeck. With everyone in the Holodeck group bringing at least three suggestions for fixing the program, the next program run-through was much smoother.

Again, there were malfunctions, but at least Tom was able to start and stop the coaxial drive without it shutting down the entire program. Tom was very happy for that fact since he was pretty sure he had bruised his tailbone when he fell down on his butt the first time the program failed the previous day.

Once Tom was finally able to both engage and disengage the drive in one run-through, Tom was about ready to do a happy dance. But instead of doing that he commented on the shakiness of the ship as he disengaged the drive caused by a significant delay in processing. The extra delay, unfortunately caused by another glitch, caused a large amount of damage upon their departure from coaxial space. What should have resulted in only minor disruptions when exiting the fold, which would have been easily handled by the shields, instead resulted in hull breaches being reported throughout the ship. Not exactly the outcome they were hoping for from a simple ten light-year jump through coaxial space. On Voyager's original return to Earth, it had taken a jump of almost twenty thousand light-years to cause a comparable amount of damage.

By midday they were convinced that there was an error in the code that the computer was overlooking when they ran comparisons to the original specifications of the coaxial drive. B'Elanna decided over lunch that they needed to take a step back and have fresh eyes look at the code. She had the maintenance team look at the program code and the engineers who had been working on the Holodeck take over the work on the Darwin.

Not really wanting to work on shuttle repairs, B'Elanna decided it was time to pay up for her loss on the bet from the week prior. She was going to have Seven join herself, Harry and Tom, but Seven stated it would be more efficient if she remained behind and examine the code. Since there were only comfortable seats for three on the Delta Flyer, she went ahead and released her back to the Holodeck. So the remaining three headed toward the shuttle bay, with Tom practically running in his excitement.

Before Harry and B'Elanna could even settle into their seats, Tom had already completed half of the preflight on the Delta Flyer. By the time she finally obtained clearance from Starfleet control for their planned route, Tom was practically spinning around in his chair in his enthusiasm.

"Calm down, flyboy," B'Elanna said with a laugh. "The flight plan should be transmitting to your station now."

"It's been over ten years since I've been able to fly something this enjoyable," Tom replied, unable to keep himself from grinning. "And with Nova Squadron it was all about precision flying."

"Opening the shuttle bay doors," Harry said with a grin of his own, since Tom's excitement appeared to be contagious.

"Beginning ascent," Tom said.

"Don't get too excited," B'Elanna tried to caution, though she was fighting a grin herself. "You have almost half an hour based on this flight plan before you can take her up to warp. And I don't want you going over warp five."

"The fun in this ship isn't at warp," Tom replied. "It's in the responsiveness of the controls and the way she glides through space. Exiting Earth's atmosphere. The difference between her handling and the Darwin is almost like comparing replicated food and a home-cooked meal. Sure, both provide you with the sustenance you need to survive, but one is just so much better."

"Just don't do anything to screw up my home-cooked meal," B'Elanna said with a laugh.

"Trust me," Tom replied. "I love her too much to put even a thought of a scratch on her. Did you ever try to put the coaxial drive on the Delta Flyer?"

"Chakotay pushed for it at first," B'Elanna responded. "But all the Holodeck simulations showed us there would be too much hull stress with the design we had. Of course that was before we realized that the hull stress was stepped and that the Flier was in the next range. All our runs on the Holodeck ended up with her destroyed."

"How about after you figured out the ranges?" Tom asked.

"At that point, we figured it would be more expedient to just retrofit Voyager," Harry answered.

"Probably," Tom replied. "But the responsiveness would have made it a smooth ride. I'm assuming it's still frowned upon to do tricks while on in the flight zone around Earth?"

"You're going to have to wait another twenty minutes before getting to amuse yourself," B'Elanna responded.

Turning around in his seat, Tom looked directly at B'Elanna as he responded. "As long as you let me play, I'll wait as long as you need."

It took B'Elanna a minute to get her breath back after Tom turned back to his controls after that statement. She was convinced that he wasn't talking about the Delta Flyer when he made that declaration. But just as she did during her time on Voyager, she wasn't about to let her personal desires interfere with her job. She remembered the Captain's warnings to her and Harry during that incident where the aliens conducted the scientific experiments on them. She also remembered how hormones were fleeting and that the decision to keep Harry in the friend category was the best choice she'd made. She wasn't going to make that mistake again. Attraction was fleeting. She did not need to risk this new found closeness with Tom Paris by letting silly things like hormones and sexual banter get in the way.

For the next couple hours, until they had to bring the Delta Flyer back to the shuttle bay, play they did. Harry and B'Elanna couldn't remember a time they had as much fun just flying around in a shuttle. It wasn't just the crazy tricks that Tom put the Flyer through that had them smiling and laughing. It was the friendly banter and casual atmosphere that permeated the shuttle which had them amused.

Tom kept a running commentary going ranging from stories about when he first did some of those maneuvers in Nova Squadron to the time he ditched a shuttle into a lake. And he wasn't the only one talking. Harry chimed in with some anecdotes about some of the scrapes that Chakotay had managed to put the Delta Flier through.

B'Elanna wasn't about to be left out, so she added in some stories from her time in the Maquis and the various scrapes they managed to survive. She even mentioned the time that Tom had been stuck on the planet with her and had actually acted like a nice guy for a few minutes.

"The thing that I couldn't believe is this guy who thinks he's God's gift to women," B'Elanna started. "Who tried his cheesy and overused pick-up lines on me, actually offered to help me with contacting my family. I didn't know whether to thank him or deck him."

"I believe you tried to do the second," Tom said with a grin, "And I'm still waiting on the first."

"Why should I do that after all these years?" B'Elanna questioned.

"Because I'm still that nice, lovable guy," Tom shot back.

"Then you don't mind if I follow through on my threat to castrate you if you ever flirt with me again," B'Elanna replied with a smile.

"Actually," Tom said, "Your words were along the lines of 'I'll get along with you when Hell freezes over.' Since you've only tried to deck me a few times over the last few days, I'd say we're starting to get along."

"You're lucky," Harry interjected, "She broke Carey's nose the first week on Voyager."

"Sounds like Klingon foreplay," Tom said as he turned to look at B'Elanna.

For a second all she did was stare at him, temper obviously rising. Then she finally spat out, "Pig." They could see that she really wanted to spit out a Klingon curse starting with the same letter but didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

Obviously, Tom had no regard for his own life and said "So, since that's not your style you must like to be wined and dined first. And you're not very receptive to flirting either. How does one find their way into your heart?"

"Nobody's figured that out yet," Harry said. He was having so much fun listening to the banter that he didn't even realize he had spoken aloud until the words were out.

Immediately B'Elanna's glare shifted over to Harry and he immediately started to wilt under the weight of it. At Harry's comment Tom had turned his chair around again, surprised that his new friend actually had the guts to say that out loud in front of B'Elanna. One look at the situation and he realized that it had been a slip of the tongue and that Harry was not going to survive that glare much longer.

So with a big smile, he decided to get his friend out of the spotlight and make sure she had an idea that his feelings toward her were not only of the friendship variety. "So now I have a nice little challenge, to be the first to capture our fair lady's heart."

"When Hell freezes over," was B'Elanna quick reply as she shifted her glaring back to Tom.

"At least that's not a no," Tom said, purposely shooting her a big smile. Then he decided to stop pushing his luck and get back to the mission. "We've got just over an hour until our shift is over, when do you want me to head back?"

B'Elanna took a few deep breaths as she tried to calm down. She kept telling herself that he was baiting her and it wasn't worth the energy to fight him. "I have a couple of things I need to check before the end of the shift, so let's go ahead and contact Starfleet Control and get clearance to return."

* * *

_**Thank you all for continuing to follow this story, especially those who take the time to review. I'll be out of town from December 7-17. I will have extremely limited internet access, but I should have plenty of down time to write. I have already sent the next chapter to my beta, so I should be able to post the next chapter on or before December 20th.**_

_**Special note – next chapter will earn its T rating. There will be a description of a sexual situation. No clothing will be removed but there will be physicality between two characters. I don't believe that any of the interaction will go much beyond the situations depicted in the episode Blood Fever, but I do want to make sure that I put forward this warning. **_


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun.

_**Thanks to starrylaa for her beta**_

**_Just a heads up, our characters get a little physical here, think Blood Fever, but that the contact stays within the boundaries of a T story._**

Starting Over – Chapter 14

They arrived back in the Shuttle Bay ten minutes before their shift was over. B'Elanna told Harry and Tom to check in on the Holodeck programming group while she went to her office to check over the status reports.

With Seven's eidetic memory, the Holodeck group was able to find most of the code errors and would be ready to try running the program again in the morning. The hope was that they had the programming to the level that they could duplicate Voyager's return flight, so that they could finally start working on improving the design.

The shuttle repair group was finishing up the last of the system repairs. They still needed to take it out for a test run, but were waiting on the test pilot.

The final group, the new engineers assigned to the program had come up with a few issues that they wanted to discuss with the team. A couple of suggestions were minor syntax differences that might allow the programming to process the commands faster. Others were ideas for improvements. They still had to flesh out their thoughts, so they were probably good for at least one or two more days on their own.

Reading the reports and getting caught up on the status of the project took B'Elanna longer than planned. At first Tom checked with the Holodeck group as requested, but then they departed for the day. Then he decided to check on the repairs to the Darwin. That took him another half an hour as he ran a few checks and scans of his own to ensure it really was ready for him to take out for a test flight.

Finally he ran out of things to do and wandered back to B'Elanna's office. He felt a little guilty for disturbing her from the current project to discuss his designs, but she had told him to come get her when he was done for the day so that they could meet. Since he was eager to spend more time with her, and he was pretty sure she wouldn't leave her work behind without a push, he headed to her office.

"So, Commander," Tom started as he waltzed into her office. "Are you about ready to grab some dinner?"

"In a rush, Paris?" B'Elanna answered without looking up from her screen.

Tom made himself comfortable in her doorway before responding, "I'm always hungry." He waited until she looked up to glare at his comment before throwing in an exaggerated wink to make sure she would catch the intended double entendre.

"Pig," B'Elanna replied.

"I'm not sure if they serve a whole pig there," Tom said. "But I'm sure they have at least a ham sandwich programmed into the replicators."

Taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm down, B'Elanna responded angrily, "You are so infuriating!"

"I've had much higher ranking officers tell me that," Tom replied. "But you are definitely the prettiest."

Rather than reply, she stood up and stalked out of the room. If she happened to jam her shoulder into him on the way out of the room since he wasn't quick enough to move out of her way, she didn't mind.

"If you need to work out some aggression, there is a gym nearby that does open gym for kickboxing in the evenings," Tom said as he followed her to the turbolifts. "I'd be happy to join you for some sparring."

"Kicking your butt," B'Elanna replied. "Now that sounds like a lot of fun. It's been a while since I've had a good workout."

"First I'll feed you," Tom said. "Then we'll head over there and work some of that anger out."

"I'm not angry," B'Elanna said as they headed into the cafeteria. "I just don't like you."

At her words, Tom stopped in his tracks, frozen in fear. All he could see was her back as she stalked past him towards the replicators. Taking a deep breath he tried to weigh the sincerity of her words. Was she teasing him right back, or did she really mean what she said?

In return, B'Elanna sensed that he hadn't followed her into the cafeteria and turned to look at him. At the fear evident on his face, she quickly ran through the conversation trying to figure out what went wrong. Realizing the error of her words, she tried to back pedal. While she meant that she didn't like him pushing her the way he was because he was getting awfully close to breaking her defenses, she wasn't about to admit that to him. Instead she decided to say only whatever she needed to in order to salvage the evening.

"I'm sorry, that came out wrong," B'Elanna said regretfully. "I meant that I'm just frustrated that you keep flirting with me. I don't like that you keep doing that."

"Oh," Tom said as he unfroze and followed her to the replicators. Still upset he continued, "I just didn't want to force you to spend time with me if you don't like me."

Realizing how much she hurt him, B'Elanna decided to keep explaining. "I like spending time with you. I enjoy discussing engineering, piloting and other things. I'm just not comfortable with the way you keep propositioning me."

"I haven't propositioned you yet," Tom said, recovering some of his good humor. "But yes I realize some of my comments might have been more suggestive that you are used to. I will attempt to tone it down."

"That might work," B'Elanna responded.

"You have to let me know if I am bothering you," Tom said. "I freely admit that when you knew me in the Maquis, all I did was flirt as a way to try and proposition partners. At the time, the only good things I had going were piloting the Liberty and enjoying the pleasures of female company. I've changed, just as you have. I'm sorry if you think some of the things I've said have come across as disrespecting you. Sometimes I've been trying to tease you, but much of the time I've been truly trying to compliment a beautiful and intelligent woman."

B'Elanna looked at the table for a moment, happy that her Klingon heritage meant that she rarely blushed when she was embarrassed. After a moment's contemplation she finally responded. "I didn't look at it that way. I'll try not to take offence."

"So," Tom said, trying to change the subject. "You said you might have some comments on the slipstream drive.

And so for another hour they talked about engineering and slipstreams. Their discussion was as colleagues who both respect and value each other's opinion. They both had more to say at the end of the hour, but it had been a long day with the various Holodeck simulations in the morning and the flight in the Delta Flyer.

"I don't know about you," Tom said, "But I'm starting to get a little cross eyed looking at these specs. Are you still interested in trying out some kickboxing?"

"I could use the workout," B'Elanna said. "I've never actually done any kickboxing before."

"It's not too hard," Tom replied. "I haven't gone very often, but it's a nice way to loosen up your whole body and work out a little stress. Just remember, no bat'leths allowed."

"Very funny, Paris," B'Elanna said with a laugh. "Let's get out of here so I can kick your butt."

"In your dreams, Torres," Tom replied.

"With you involved, all I have is nightmares," B'Elanna shot back.

As they entered the turbolift to go to the first floor Tom grabbed his heart as if she had wounded him. "That was a low blow," Tom said with a laugh. "But you can always come over and visit my dreams where you star in quite a few of them. Want to hear?"

"No thank you," B'Elanna said as they exited the building. "I happened to have enjoyed that dinner and really don't want to hear about your various fetishes."

"Nothing like that," Tom said with a smirk. "Just you, me and a wall, or a desk, or the…"

B'Elanna slapped his arm in an effort to make him stop. Instead he took the hint she gave and ran with it. "Oh, so you're into that. I'm not usually, but for you I can always make an exception.

"Enough," B'Elanna said as she smacked her hand over his mouth to make him stop. "I don't need you causing more nightmares." She kept it there for a minute until she saw that his eyes were no longer twinkling in laughter and were instead asking for forgiveness.

"Sorry," Tom said. "How about we hit the gym so you can work out those violent tendencies?"

"One more comment like that and I'll show you violent," B'Elanna replied.

With that statement they both started laughing as they moved on to less risqué topics. They spent the last couple blocks talking about the various places that they were passing and the city in general.

Prior to her return from the Delta Quadrant, B'Elanna had hated the city with a passion. However, over the last month or so it had begun to grow on her. As the headquarters for the Federation, most members or allies maintained embassies in the area. This allowed for a very diverse culture in the area, that she was able to appreciate now that she was no longer an angry student. After over six years of constantly meeting new species and living with the same people on the ship, it was nice to see familiar aliens and new faces every day.

Tom also had a love/hate relationship with San Francisco. He grew up in the area and it truly felt like home, but for many years all he wanted to do was get away. The city, dominated by the Federation and Starfleet, reminded him of the tense, rocky relationship he had with his father when he was growing up. Plus, this was the sight of his ultimate downfalls, both losing his commission and his sentencing for crimes against the Federation.

But as they walked toward the gym, both focused on the positive aspects of the city and the many opportunities it presented. Having both just returned from years of isolation, a bustling and familiar environment was a welcome change.

When they walked into the gym, there were a few people around, but it was not too busy. Tom immediately went to the desk and inquired about the possibility of a private room. They had one available for the rest of the evening and sent them to the locker room to change. Luckily, since neither of them expected to be working out that evening, there was a replicator to allow them to change into something more appropriate.

After changing they meet outside the locker room doors and headed upstairs to their reserved room. Tom decided he had better come clean about his experience with kickboxing. "I've actually only done this once before. My mom takes a yoga class and Kathleen took me a couple days after I got out."

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" B'Elanna asked.

"If you're asking me if I know the correct techniques," Tom answered, "Then no. I had the standard first year Academy defensive courses, but no training in kickboxing. But I also held my own in quite a few bar fights after I was kicked out of Starfleet, not to mention getting attached almost daily the first year at Auckland. How about you?"

"Same Starfleet courses," B'Elanna replied. "Plus about thirteen years of how to be a Klingon Warrior training from my mom."

"Sounds fun," Tom said as they walked in and looked around their assigned room. It was empty except for pads covering the floor. They were different colors denoting where the practice area was and what would be out of bounds. "We should be pretty well matched skill wise. I'm assuming that we are keeping this fight clean."

"What?" B'Elanna asked incredulously, not understanding what he meant.

"No eye gouging, kidney or groin shots and so forth," Tom responded.

"I would hope so," B'Elanna said. "I though we were sparring, not trying to kill each other."

"At Auckland a few of the guys used to organize fights for betting on," Tom said. "They always made sure of the rules before hand; otherwise you never know what you're getting into."

"I may only be part Klingon, but I was drilled enough about honor," B'Elanna replied. "I'm not going to hurt you too much in a sparring session."

"Then let's get started," Tom said with a smile as he entered the practice area.

For the next ten minutes they danced around each other pretty well. Occasionally one or the other would land a glancing punch or kick, but both were good about keeping their distance and blocking the other's shots.

After another five minutes they started to come closer together where Tom's longer reach wasn't as much of an advantage. Both got in a few good shots before B'Elanna managed a low kick that knocked Tom's legs out from under him. He responded by kicking hers out from under her before jumping quickly to his feet.

Another five minutes in and again they found themselves hitting the mats. This time, Tom took B'Elanna down first. Before he could even begin to regain his footing, she jumped on top of him, trying to pin him down. For another minute, they were rolling around on the floor before B'Elanna managed to pin him below her.

B'Elanna loomed over Tom as she pinned him to the ground, holding his hands captive above him as she used her body to hold him down. He tried to think of anything but the gorgeous woman astride his hips in order to will his body not to react. Unfortunately, he had so much adrenalin running through his system from the fight, which his mind had dropped into the gutter and decided to call it an erotic dance, that he couldn't keep his feelings from showing.

Of course, from her position, B'Elanna was well aware of the effect she was having on him. As a part Klingon, the sparing session had almost been like foreplay for her body. She was so keyed up herself that she couldn't stop her body's next, almost instinctual, reaction.

Rather than release his arms from where they were pinned over his head or move her own hips from where they were draped over his, she instead ground herself down into him. Again instinct ruled their actions, this time it was Tom who responded with a like movement as he trust his hips upward. As she shifted her weight slightly so that she could lean down even closer to his face, Tom's mind finally took over his actions.

Summoning his remaining strength and willpower, Tom bucked his body upwards in what she first thought was a sexual move until she found herself pinned under him as he almost reversed their positions.

Luckily for his waning willpower, his longer reach allowed him to straddle her thighs instead of her hips, while still pinning her hands above her head. She attempted to lunge up and capture his face with either a kiss or a bite, neither of them was quite sure of her intentions.

Wrapping his hands around her wrists as restraints, he dragged her arms down from where they are held over her head down to her sides so that he was able to sit back on his heels and still pin her. She bucked against his hold again, but was unable to dislodge him.

"Let me go," B'Elanna yelled at Tom.

"Are you going to calm down and talk about this?" He responded.

"Get off of me," was her response as she turned her head to stare at the walls. "There is nothing to talk about."

"Two hours ago you said you didn't like me and now you're trying to have sex on a gym floor," Tom said as he let her hands go.

"If you're not interested, then let me go," B'Elanna responded and then used her freed hands to push him off her. She quickly got up and stalked to the far side of the room to lean against the wall.

"Back in the Maquis I would have had you out of those clothes so fast, you would have had whiplash," Tom responded as he stood up and followed her across the room. He put his hands on either side of her head resting his palms against the wall and keeping his elbows locked straight. He purposely left plenty of room so that she wasn't trapped in his arms, but he wanted to make sure he had her attention.

"In case you haven't figured out by now, that's not who I am anymore," Tom continued, taking a few deep breaths to maintain his calm and control his lingering reaction to their wrestling on the floor. "I like you. Over the last week, I've been proud to finally be able to call you a friend. I'm sure you are well aware that I'm also attracted to you. I'd like to try taking you out on a date and seeing if we can try for something more. I'm not about to mess either of those things up by screwing you on the floor tonight."

"Who said I wanted you," B'Elanna said as she purposely looked away from him.

"You started it," Tom said incredulously.

"Maybe I was just trying to distract you," B'Elanna said, ducking out from between his arms and heading toward the exit.

Tom shot his hand out before she got a step away and gently grabbed her arm. "I'm not going to push you now, but we aren't dropping this. I'm interested and I think you are too."

B'Elanna glanced back at him, seeing the sincerity in his eyes before she shook her arm free. "Good night, Paris," she said before continuing toward the door.

"You'll be fine getting home?" Tom asked, concerned that she was going to go home by herself this late at night, but knowing that she wouldn't want him to follow her right now.

She opened the door and was half way though before answering him quietly, "I'll see you tomorrow, Tom." And with that she quickly made her way to the locker room to change and hurry home. She had a lot to think about, especially why her body was betraying her. She wasn't going to get involved, especially not with Tom Paris, yet why had she been so turned on in that room, and disappointed that she left him behind.

Meanwhile, Tom turned around and leaned against the wall as he considered the last few minutes. He knew he liked her, a lot, and now he didn't know what to do. Should he have just had sex with her like she had obviously wanted? Did he scare her away by admitting his attraction? Did he just screw up an important friendship? How was he going to ask her on a date?

After he was sure she would have left the building, he finally went to the locker room himself and got ready to go home. Kickboxing was either the smartest or stupidest suggestion he ever made. He'd just have to wait and see how she reacted. A few years ago, if a woman had declared herself to him so openly, he would have run in the opposite direction. Hopefully, she would stay around long enough to convince her to give him, no them a chance.

* * *

_**Don't worry, I won't keep our favorite pair apart for too long. But remember, B'Elanna didn't have Tom Paris on Voyager to constantly push her to go beyond her comfort zone, so they have to do that here. **_

_**I've finished the next chapter and it's with the beta. I hope to post the next chapter will be posted right before the New Year. **_


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun.

_**Thanks to starrylaa for her beta**_

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 15

Awkward would be a polite way of describing Wednesday morning. Tom was trying very hard to give B'Elanna her space and she was trying extremely hard to avoid him that they ended up running into each other as they both took the long ways around the small project space.

At first B'Elanna was going to send him out to test flight the Darwin until she realized that she was the only engineer she trusted to go out on it with as many repairs as they had just done. She knew that trapping herself in a Class Two shuttle for several hours with Tom Paris would not help her get over these crazy feelings of attraction she was having.

So instead she decided to test out the repairs that had been made to the Holodeck program. Of course she was still stuck close to Tom for several hours, but there would be other people in the room and considerably more space in between them.

What she didn't count on was the awe she was feeling as she watched how skillfully he handled her ship, even in a simulation. After over six years in the Delta Quadrant with the same pilots, she was used to the particular ways they did things when controlling her engines. They all used them to barrel through space, forcing the engines to do their will.

Tom, in contrast, seemed to be connected to the ship. He didn't force the engines to do anything, but instead seemed to encourage them to join him. Rather than the rapid starts and stops that they were used to from the other pilots, he seemed to glide them to their desired speed. He was leading them in a dance rather than forcing them into place. Even the jarring entrances and exits from coaxial warp were smoother and should have been less damaging to her precious engines.

But even more noticeable this morning was Tom's attitude while in her presence. He was friendly, making sure to warmly great and smile at her, but he kept his distance. He didn't move away if she approached, but made sure never to move to encroach on her space. His banter was also toned down. While he was in no way silent, his casual comments were noticeably lacking in any type of innuendo.

"So Voyager only engaged the coaxial warp drive three times?" Tom questioned as he prepared the Holographic Voyager for the first test flight of the day.

"Yes," Harry answered. "The first jump was for twenty thousand light years. The second jump was for twelve thousand and the third was for only eight thousand."

"I'm assuming the damaged caused by the flights," Tom said, "Accounted for the fact that the subsequent flights were shorter."

"It took two months to fix the damage the first time," Harry responded. "And three months to rerepair the damage after the second flight. Right now they are estimating that it will be another five months before they let Voyager out of dry-dock. Of course some of that time is to fix the other six years of damage and upgrade many of the systems."

"Six months in dry-dock," Tom exclaimed. "And the Commander was afraid of my driving?! Preparing to engage coaxial warp drive."

"You hadn't been at the Conn in seven years," B'Elanna responded, annoyed that he was questioning her judgment.

"So," Tom countered. "Now that you've seen my driving, will you let me drive Voyager? Engaging drive."

"All systems nominal," Harry said as the ship began the transition to coaxial space.

"Entering coaxial space," Tom stated. "Conn readings match those of the first Voyager flight."

"Engines functioning at ninety-eight percent of maximum capacity," B'Elanna said.

"Conn reads them functioning at one hundred percent," Tom replied. "Readings indicated that Voyager has traveled one hundred light years."

"Shields are at ninety-nine percent and dropping," Seven stated. "Estimated failure at six thousand light years."

"Rerouting all non-essential systems to shields and deflectors," Harry responded.

"That's much quicker than the shield decay rate on the first flight log," Tom said. "But all the shield readings are consistent with the third flight."

"Engine function is falling to ninety percent," B'Elanna interjected. "Let's bring her out."

"Disengaging coaxial drive," Tom said. "Reverting to subspace in three, two, one, mark. Dropping to full impulse. Conn indicates that Voyager is traveling at warp two, but I have not engaged the warp engines."

"Warp drive is not engaged," B'Elanna said. "Resetting Conn sensors."

"Sensors show that Voyager is now traveling at full impulse," Tom responded. "Decelerating to all stop."

"Damage estimates are twenty percent better than estimates," Harry said.

"But the areas are all wrong," Tom replied. "There is too much damage in the aft sections, despite the fact that there was no additional shear on those sections."

"But there was prior damage to Voyager," B'Elanna said.

"That may be true," Tom said. "But none of those sections were this severely damaged in all the Voyager coaxial warp flights. The damage is in the wrong place, so the computer isn't processing the Holodeck programming correctly."

"He's right," Harry said. "Only two of the areas sustained damage previously and that was on the third flight."

"I may drive differently than your pilots did," Tom responded. "But I'm not going to cause that much damage in a new area."

"Let's save the data and rerun the simulation," B'Elanna interjected. "Let's see if this is a one time anomaly."

Tom turned his chair toward the engineering section to answer her. "I'm confident this was not a one time anomaly, but let's reset the parameters and start over," Tom said before giving her a hesitant smile and returning to his readings.

For some reason B'Elanna was confident that he was not talking about the simulation or even Voyager. He was, within the bounds of his promise to not push her, letting her know that he was still interested in her.

Why was at the top of her list of questions. She could not understand how this attractive and confident, fully human male, could be interested in her angry, half-Klingon self. Sure she knew she was attractive to other people, though she never understood that attraction, but it was more than that. If it was just physical, he wouldn't have stopped what she had foolishly started the night before.

The thoughts of that had kept her up half the night. Why would he have stopped, when physically she was certain that he was interested in her? Why did he declare his interest, even when she so clearly was looking to flee the room? Why had the rest of her night, the part she managed to sleep through, been filled with dreams where they didn't stop or where they continued their actions another time? And most importantly, why had those dreams failed to scare her at the time, and in fact had woken her with a smile on her face?

Returning to the present, hopefully before anyone noticed her contemplation, B'Elanna order the program to reset and for the crew to try it again.

While B'Elanna was doing her contemplation, Tom was contemplating a little himself. He knew she would avoid him this morning. In fact, he expected her to find a different part of the project to work on, and was grateful that she not only in the same room, but speaking to him, even if it was only regarding their work.

He was trying very hard to be on his best behavior. He knew that he had scared her last night, and was willing to do whatever it took to put things right. He realized after many hours of sleepless contemplation that he wasn't just physically attracted to her, but that he was well on his way toward falling for her.

He had been with many women, almost too many to remember, in his life. While he had always managed to find women he was physically attracted too, even Ricky, who he had been engaged to, had never captured his interest intellectually the way that B'Elanna did. She was not only attractive and intelligent, but her inner fire spoke to him. Their conversations and debates had been some of the most enjoyable moments he could remember. And for those few moments that he'd taken to enjoy the previous night, it had been amazing.

But, now he was worried that he had spoken too soon. He really had meant to not bring up the previous night until she did. Somehow, however, his mouth had started speaking without engaging his brain. At least it hadn't been too bad. No innuendo, just a reminder that he was interested and waiting for her move, though it was veiled as a discussion of the work around them. She hadn't responded except with a simple nod to his words, but he wasn't sure if she was responding to the words themselves or the meaning behind them.

As they ran the simulation again, Tom and B'Elanna tried to put the other out of their mind and focus exclusively on the task at hand. Of course, neither of them was completely successful. But, both were extremely good at their jobs, and were able to keep the rest of the crew from figuring out that something else was going on. The only observations the rest of the crew had was that the obvious attraction they had all noticed, and wisely not commented on, between the civilian test pilot and their chief, seemed to be much less overt today.

Again Tom took them into coaxial space and brought them out, this time only managing to take them one hundred fifty light years rather than the two hundred of the previous test with almost identical damage, despite the fact that his entrances and exits from coaxial space were even smoother this time around with the additional practice. The only positive difference in the readings was that this time the Conn readings matched those of the other stations.

The team made a few additional minor adjustments and tried a third time. This time they were again able to travel the two hundred light years, but still the damage estimates were in the wrong place and too plentiful for what should have occurred on the relatively short trip.

Eventually, they had gone as far as they could without fixing the last few major errors in the Holodeck programming. Without correcting the way the computer was computing the damage estimates, there couldn't have a reliable test. So B'Elanna assigned her best code readers to the task and took a step back to observe. With Harry and Seven running that team, B'Elanna realized she no longer had an excuse to avoid testing the Darwin.

However, she also wasn't dreading it any more. She wasn't rushing to spend time in such a small space with Tom, but he had proven himself discreet and respectful all morning, despite many chances to take things too far. In fact he had again reiterated his pledge not to push her, which she greatly appreciated. So as they returned from lunch she decided to just get it over with.

"Paris," B'Elanna said, "Go ahead to the Darwin and get her preflighted. The rest of you, head back to the Holodeck and find those coding errors."

"Yes Ma'am," Tom said with a grin as he headed past the Holodeck. He loved driving the new drive, but it was frustrating to have such high damage estimates that he couldn't correct, especially when they weren't his fault.

"Harry," B'Elanna continued after Tom had already gone into the Shuttle Bay, "You're in charge. I'm going out on the Darwin to check out all those repairs. We should be back before you head out for the day."

"Yes Ma'am," Harry replied.

"Not you too!" B'Elanna shot back at him as she headed off. She heard Harry's laugh as she walked into the Shuttle Bay. She took a few minutes to walk around the outside of the craft before deciding she couldn't delay joining Tom in the small cockpit anymore.

Tom was already halfway through the preflight before B'Elanna stepped onboard the Darwin. He glanced up and then started in shock to see that she was the one accompanying him on the test flight. He of course had hoped she would, but never figured that she would voluntarily join him in close quarters this quickly.

"I need another three minutes to finish preflight," Tom began.

"I'll contact Starfleet Control for clearance," B'Elanna responded.

"I'm assuming the same flight plan as last Friday," Tom said, looking directly at her as he spoke. He wasn't sure if she would understand that he was meaning not just the actions outside the shuttle, but the interactions between them.

B'Elanna took a moment to look at him also before she responded. "Yes, we'll try for that."

Tom let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding and turned back to the controls with a grin.

"So," Tom started, "You never gave me an answer as to whether you would let me pilot Voyager or not?"

B'Elanna fixed him with a glare for a minute, before it faded away to a slight smile. "I guess I have to since you're our test pilot. I guess I can trust you not to cause too much damage. And if you do, I'll just make you fix it."

"Not part of the job description," Tom returned as he allowed himself a smile at the return to comfortable conversation between them. "Clearance received from Starfleet Control. Preparing to depart the Shuttle Bay."

The first half of the flight, as they took the Darwin out past Mars, was relatively quiet. Despite both parties wish to return to the status quo prior to the previous night's incident, they weren't quite sure how to get there. Some lines had been crossed, or more accurately, some feelings had been discovered that couldn't quite be put out of either of their minds.

But, as the couple of hours went by on the way to the test area, they were able to fall into easier conversation about random topics. Just before they reached Mars where they would be released to test the shuttle, the conversation turned to discussion of various people both had known either from the Academy or the Maquis. Before they could get into too much detail, Tom announced that he was going to take the Darwin into warp.

Luckily, this time the parts were correct and the repairs were practically flawless as Tom took them through various speeds and flight patterns. Again, B'Elanna was amazed at the ease that both the pilot and the craft responded to each other. He'd always been this good, at least from what she had observed in their time together in the Maquis. But now, it was so much more engaging, almost erotic now that his wasn't attempting to power the ship by his ego alone. In no way was he humble about his skills, but just like the rest of him, time and maturity had mellowed out the rough edges that had bothered her in the past.

They were quickly able to complete all the planned test maneuvers, since the ship was finally in top working order. They quickly returned to the previous conversation until B'Elanna could no longer hold back her curiosity. She decided that she had to know where he stood. Was he truly interested in her, or just the idea of having something now that he was out of prison?

"So what was prison like Paris?" B'Elanna asked.

For a moment Tom just looked at B'Elanna. He wanted to gauge her sincerity before answering that question. He needed to decide if he gave his standard 'it was long and boring answer' or not.

"At first it was hell," Tom answered honestly. "After Harry came, it got marginally better."

"I'm guessing the Maquis gave you grief," B'Elanna replied.

"They definitely hated me at first," Tom said with a smirk. "They were the first to back off though when they realized the guards would let anyone seriously hurt me, and that I knew how to fight back."

"Seriously hurt you?" B'Elanna said quizzically.

"The guards wouldn't let more than three people attack me at any one time," Tom replied. "Any more than that, and I couldn't protect myself enough."

"Why would they let anyone hurt you?" B'Elanna asked.

"What did you think of me when I first walked into the work area?" Tom replied, turning to contemplate her scowl before continuing. "From the expression on your face, I'm guessing I was one of your least favorite people on earth. Now imagine you are a Federation prison guard required to protect me, who you consider a murderer and a traitor. Don't you think you'd look the other way?"

"I guess I can see that, but why limit it?" B'Elanna responded.

"My first fight was against four guys. I took down two of them, but the other two had me pinned to the wall." Tom stopped for a quick breath, trying not to give away what had almost happened. "After that, they kept the numbers down to a level I could keep up with. After a while, the other prisoners figured out I would give as good as I got, and it wasn't worth the solitude or injuries they had to live with after a fight."

"So how was the nightlife?" B'Elanna asked with a grin, finally getting to the question she needed to know the answer to.

"Torres, are you inquiring how the nightlife was in a male only prison?" Tom said as he stared at her.

"Well, you've changed since you got out," B'Elanna responded with a smirk of her own. "You don't flirt like you used to."

"Are you seriously asking me if I'm into guys now?" Tom said in shock.

Tom managed to pull off the rarely occurring feat of making B'Elanna blush. She hadn't expected him to voice it quite that way. While at the heart that was what she was asking, she hadn't even admitted to herself that fact.

"I wondered if there was a reason for why you haven't tried to take half my staff to your bed yet," B'Elanna returned summoning up a smirk.

Tom looked at her for a minute, trying to figure out what he wanted to say. He wanted her to know where he was coming from, but could he really be so blunt with her? Of course she had just asked him if he had gotten laid in prison, so she obviously wanted to discuss sex. Finally he decided to go ahead and lay it all out for her.

"I learned during my long abstinence that it is much more meaningful if you actually could have feeling for the woman you are flirting with. I used sex as an anesthetic back in the Maquis. For a couple of hours I was able to forget the shitty life I was living at that point. I felt good, I made sure she felt good and then I started it all over again the next day."

"After seven years of going without that anesthetic, I've learned a few other coping methods. I also had plenty of time to reflect that I've had my fair share of sex, but I'm missing out on making love. I can't do that if I'm flirting with every woman I see. I love women, but what got me through the nights at Auckland was the idea that I could find a woman who was not only attractive, but intelligent and able to keep me on my toes."

"So I'm guessing you haven't found anyone you like on the project," B'Elanna said. "You've spend a lot of time with us; you should go out and find your dream woman."

Tom just shook his head before deciding that obviously she needed him to be direct. Quietly, almost to himself he said, "I know I'm a little rusty after seven years without flirting, but to not even realize I'm doing it."

She just looked at him in surprise until he continued. "I'm spending my time exactly where I want to be. I like spending time with Harry and Seven. I especially enjoy the time I've spent with you."

B'Elanna looked at him in astonishment. How could he enjoy his time with her? They were almost always snapping at each other or egging each other on.

"What do you mean?" B'Elanna asked.

Tom continued, making sure to look directly at her as he spoke. "I like you B'Elanna and I'd like to get to know you even better."

"Why?" B'Elanna replied in shock. He was an attractive human, and she was half-Klingon. Why would he want anything to do with her?

"I'd like to spend time with you, not just as a friend, but to see if we could be more." Tom said. Realizing that they only had a few minutes left before they landed back in the Shuttle Bay and he would lose the opportunity to talk with her privately, he took a deep breath and plunged in. "Would you like to go out on a date with me on Saturday?"

For over a minute B'Elanna kept him waiting. It wasn't really on purpose, but she needed the time to argue with herself if she really wanted to go through with it. Yes, she was extremely attracted to Tom Paris. Yes, she enjoyed spending time with him and could freely admit to herself that she considered him a friend. But was she ready to go out on a date with him? Yesterday she ran from him, but somehow she had since realized that wasn't the answer.

Taking a few deep breaths B'Elanna prepared her answer. She wasn't ready to commit to the whole wine and dine, but maybe they could go out for something simple. Perhaps they could spend some time together outside of work and see where it would lead them.

Realizing that she couldn't keep him waiting forever, both in the shuttle and in life, she answered him. Locking down the butterflies that suddenly seemed to appear in both her stomachs, B'Elanna finally turned her chair to look directly at him as she replied. "How about we go out and get some coffee after our run Saturday morning?"

With a big smile, Tom replied, "I'd like that."

* * *

_**I guess I really like you guys. I almost cut this chapter short in two different places. First, I wasn't sure if the conversation on the shuttle ride home should be in this chapter or the next one. Secondly, I almost stopped four paragraphs ago before she answered, but I figured you guys would have flamed me.**_

_**I just posted a poll on my profile. I've got two different ways I can take this story, and I want to know which you, the readers want. Originally I had planned to have 'something' happen to B'Elanna after she and Tom got together and this would help them grow their relationship. But also I was only planning on this story being 10 or so chapters. At this time, even if I skip any further issues, it will be at least 20 chapters. So, if you could let me know, with the poll or in a PM/Review which you would prefer, I'd appreciate it.**_


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun.

_**Thanks to starrylaa for her beta**_

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Starting Over – Chapter 16

The rest of the week moved quickly. The project staff were enjoying a return of the obvious flirting between Tom and B'Elanna, while the two of them were enjoying the way that their interaction made them feel. Tom still kept the blatant innuendo to a minimum, but the chemistry between them, even if they were just discussing Holodeck code, was intriguing.

"Don't you see that adjusting that line will cause a failure when jumping to warp?" B'Elanna said as she came behind where Tom was sitting reviewing code at the conference table.

"Not if you adjust this line as well," Tom said as he gently touched her arm to encourage her to stand beside instead of behind her.

Everyone else suddenly found their own PADD's mesmerizing as they tried to position their bodies so they could see the interaction out of their peripheral vision. They were enthralled at the ease with which they two responded to each other. Tom hadn't even looked at her, but was able to accurately reach out his hand to direct her. And B'Elanna, who shied away from most personal contact didn't even blink as she swiftly followed his hand's direction and moved to stand next to him.

"That line," B'Elanna continued as she leaned down placing one hand a centimeter away from his shoulder on the chair and the other just to the side of where his hands were holding his padd on the table. "Will affect the weapons systems, which at the moment are operating perfectly."

"Don't want to mess up a good thing," Tom replied.

"Not unless the benefits outweigh the risks," B'Elanna responded. "In this case, firing phasers while the coaxial drive is engaged might not be a good risk."

"I'll just have to find some code that makes the risk worthwhile," Tom said as he turned to B'Elanna and gave her a gentle smile. She turned her head slightly to the side and for a moment they were looking straight into the other's eyes with only a couple dozen centimeters separating them.

"You keep working on that," B'Elanna said as she forced herself to move back and glance around the room to see if their interaction had been noticed. All she could see was her team with their eyes fixated on their PADDS and so she moved away from him confident that they had not been observed.

"I'll let you know when I do," Tom answered, taking his own look around the room. While B'Elanna had seen the intended view, Tom was an astute enough observer to catch the eyes that shifted away from them a second after they looked up and the fact that everyone was doing their job just a little too well. He suppressed his grin and decided to keep his ears open to see if he could figure out what the betting pool was on them.

That chemistry between the pair fascinated the rest of the team and just as Tom suspected a betting pool had been started as to how quickly they would resolve the tension. Side bets were offered for the length of the resulting relationship, with the majority of the bets being laid in the few days to several weeks categories. Though there was one bet that surprised the rest of the team. Seven, who had never participated in any betting pools onboard Voyager, placed a wager of marriage on the length of their association. When Harry tried to question her logic, all she would say is that she stood by her opinion. When he mentioned it to Libby that night, she just smiled and said that you don't mess with female intuition.

For the watched pair, they were adjusting to the new dynamic between them. Both Tom and B'Elanna were growing more comfortable with the idea of something more connecting them. Yes, both still had butterflies, especially with the idea that trying something could ruin the friendship they had begun building, but there was also a sense of anticipation of what could be.

They both also realized that they had to take this slow. They had to work together for the foreseeable future, so they had to make sure that they remained cordial if it didn't work out. Indulging in the sexual chemistry that was between them immediately might feel amazing, but would not make the continuation of a professional relationship easy.

Despite the intensity of the interpersonal interactions, the entire team was making progress. After years of the closed community of Voyager, it was a breath of fresh air to have new eyes and minds on the project. The new engineers to the project had identified a few places that they had suggestions for improvements. As soon as they were able to replicate the original flights, they would start running simulations that would incorporate these new ideas.

Additionally, the team was making progress on fixing the problems on Holodeck. While on Wednesday they had been dealing with glaring errors in the way the Holodeck was processing the damage reports, they were finally making progress towards eliminating them. The key was fixing the existing errors without causing new ones.

On the first run through Thursday morning, the team was able to reduce the extraneous damage reports by half. Unfortunately these reductions came at a cost, as new problems cropped up. The disparity between the Conn readings and those at Engineering, Ops and Tactical grew at an alarming rate. Obviously one of the fixes they made had an unintended consequence, so it was back to the drawing board.

By the time they were finished on Thursday afternoon they were able to reduce the discrepancies between the various stations without any negative impact on the damage reports.

Finally armed with the information of where they couldn't touch the program, they spent Friday tracking down the last of the coding errors that were affecting the damage reports. It appeared that their luck was finally turning, as two weeks into the program they might actually be able to finally replicate their previous work.

By the middle of the afternoon on Friday, they were at last able to duplicate the first attempt with the coaxial drive by Voyager. The only difference between the Holodeck flight and the real one was the improvement to the damage estimates due to Tom's flying. Not surprisingly, Tom was able to eliminate almost twenty five percent of the damage with his smoother entrances and exits from coaxial warp.

To ensure that it truly was an accurate recreation, they ended up running it twice. What was even more amazing to the crew was the fact that Tom could not only fly as well as he did, but that he could purposely not fly as well on command. To ensure that the Holodeck program was an accurate, Tom suggested that he fly Voyager exactly as had been done on the first flight. All he asked for was a half an hour to review the flight logs to ensure he made the transitions the same. Since B'Elanna anticipated it might take as long as an hour to ensure that the computer could replicate the flight logs on the Holodeck, she agreed to let him try.

It was eerie for the crew watching the second flight. While they could see that it was Tom at the helm of the ship, the actions were far different than how he had piloted any of the simulations before. He had a PADD running beside the helm that contained the flight log, but almost all of his attention was on the controls before him. He was at the controls but the transitions of Voyager into and out of coaxial warp, even the movement while at speed were exactly as they had been six months ago. It may have been Tom sitting at the controls, but it was Chakotay's piloting that they felt. Even the damage assessments were almost identical to those originally listed on the first flight.

But the experiment had done its job; they were able to prove that the adjustments to the Holodeck program were successful. Now they were able to move forward and work toward improving the drive now that they could accurately test their hypothesis. B'Elanna was so pleased at the progress that she let them head home 30 minutes early.

With a rarely seen in the engine room smile on her face, B'Elanna addressed the team. "Monday morning we're going to start on some of these changes that the new engineers suggested. For now, go ahead and leave a couple minutes early. But take the suggestions with you and I want you back on Monday with comments and ideas on how to implement them."

There were a lot of smiles as everyone grabbed a PADD with the suggestions and headed out quickly, before she could change her mind.

"A minute of your time Commander?" Tom said after most of the remaining team had left the room. At his words a few of the stragglers tried to unobtrusively linger to overhear what was about to be said between them, but a glare from B'Elanna caused them to retreat to the door quickly.

"Yes," B'Elanna said curiously. They hadn't spent any time alone since they had returned back from testing the Darwin. In fact, since she had agreed to meet him for a run and coffee, he hadn't even had time to confirm the plans.

"So what time would you like to meet for our run and coffee tomorrow, B'Elanna?" Tom asked.

"A little presumptuous aren't you, Tom?" B'Elanna replied sternly, emphasizing his first name so that he understood that's what she was pretending was bothering her.

"What?" Tom said. "We're friends, so I didn't realize I couldn't call my friend by her first name."

"But you said you would keep it professional at work." B'Elanna responded, barely able to hold back her grin.

"And you just dismissed us for the day," Tom replied. "Besides, we're the only ones in this room." He stopped as B'Elanna was no longer able to hide her smile.

Deciding to get back at her for her teasing, he took a few steps toward her, effectively trapping her between his body and the table, unless she pushed him out of the way. "That is unless you don't want it to be professional," Tom said, practically purring at her.

B'Elanna stood there in shock. She couldn't believe he just purred at her while at the 'office.' Additionally, she couldn't believe how enthusiastically her body had responded to that sound. Deciding that she had to take a step back from the situation and get things back on track before she took him up on his offer she responded after a few moments hesitation.

She slapped him on the chest and shook her head at him as he laughed at her response and took a small step back to give her a little more room. Still shaking her head at him, B'Elanna said, "Actually, it's nice to hear. Except for Chakotay and sometimes Janeway, nobody else really uses it."

"I thought you were close to Harry?" Tom asked.

"We are," B'Elanna replied. "But I think I scare him too much for him to really feel comfortable call me by my first name. I guess that's why he'll usually just revert back to calling me Maquis."

"I think the nicknames are cute," Tom said.

"For awhile we were the only ones who would interact with the other group off duty," B'Elanna responded, shaking her head at his characterization of them as cute. "But once Chakotay put up the Sandrine's program, the tensions finally started to thaw out. It made life on board a whole lot friendlier."

"Sounds interesting," Tom replied. "After we found out that the Maquis had joined the crew when you were stuck in the Delta Quadrant, I wondered how long I would have survived in the mixed crew if I had made it on board. I'm betting the two groups would have bonded over my torture, and possibly even my murder."

"I probably would have lead the charge," B'Elanna admitted.

"I think I might have actually enjoyed that," Tom said with a smirk.

"If you keep talking like that, I'm sure I can find other things to do tomorrow," B'Elanna teased right back.

"So, what time?" Tom said quickly, trying to avoid her following through on the threat.

"If we're going to eat afterwards," B'Elanna replied. "How about o-seven hundred?"

"That sounds great," Tom answered. "There is a great coffee shop about a block away from where we met last week, so we can head there afterwards."

"Sounds good," B'Elanna said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Realizing that she wanted to finish up her work alone, Tom turned to leave. Wanting to do something, but sure that she wasn't ready for him to give her a hug, he simply ran his hand down her arm softly as he turned to leave the room and said "Tomorrow," before leaving with a parting smile.

As he left, B'Elanna smiled to herself and realized that she was pretty content at the moment. She decided that she had made the right decision to at least get together outside of work and see what might happen.

* * *

**_Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I didn't want to rush and tack on their first date, which will be all of the next chapter. _**

**_For those of you who want some 'fireworks,' remember that B'Elanna is not as confident as the one from the show, and it took at least six months from Blood Fever to Revulsion which was their first real kiss. I promise it will be much quicker here, but remember they have only been reaquanted for thirteen days as of their first date._**

**_I'm still looking for opinions on if I should throw a twist into B'Elanna's life or not. Either way, we have come through all the major problems between our pair. They will still argue, but for them that's a bit of foreplay. Let me know which you want on the poll on my profile, in a review or a PM._**


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun.

_**Thanks to starrylaa for her beta**_

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Starting Over – Chapter 17

Tom was the first to arrive at the head of the running path on Saturday morning. He was anxious, excited and worried, all rolled into one person trying to play it cool. He knew that he had to tread lightly to avoid scaring B'Elanna away. He liked her, perhaps more than he had liked anyone since Ricki or Susie.

He took a moment to analyze that thought and indulged in a short trip down memory lane. He had been in love with two women in his life. His initial love affair ended his first year at the Academy when Susie Crabtree dumped him. He almost failed Stellar Cartography because he was such a mess after the break up. But later he figured out that's what happens with first loves. You don't have anything to compare it to, so it is the best thing in the world when things are great and the end of the world when it fails.

And then there were his feelings for Ricki. He had obviously thought he loved her, or he wouldn't have asked her to marry him. Things with her had seemed easy, but in some ways that was because neither of them invested enough of themselves into the relationship to make problems. She had been like him, from a well respected family and he met her while they were both enjoying their time of rebellion in Marseille. They dated a little then and then picked back up after he graduated. But, while he couldn't have cared less about her pedigree, she was always concerned about being seen and being watched by the right people when they went out.

At the time he enjoyed the attention, and the excitement of getting to go to all the best clubs when they were on Earth or vacation at the latest popular resort. But that wasn't what he really wanted to do with his life. Afterward he realized that the only reason he stayed with her was that the sex was really good, and she would use it to her advantage. Every time he had tried to talk about his desires beyond following the path that his father wanted, she would distract him.

After the accident, she didn't even wait for the ink on his confession to dry before she made a scene and dumped him. His reaction to that was the opposite of what happened with Susie. He was almost happy to be rid of her and her ties to his father's expected path in life. When he left Earth, all he wanted to do was forget the expectations and enjoy whatever few minutes of happiness he could between drinking and finding work as an independent pilot.

Of course, over a year into that new way of thinking is when he joined the Maquis and first met B'Elanna. From the moment he laid eyes on her, he had found her attractive and intriguing. But she wasn't the type to fall into bed at the drop of a few choice lines, and that was all he had to give the first time he met her. But the memory of her stuck with him as someone he admired. She was the type of woman he would have liked to have met before his accident sent his life spiraling downward.

B'Elanna was different from what most humans would consider normal. As a half-Klingon, half-human she stood out from the crowd, even as he could see that she desperately tried to fit in. Yet he found her extremely attractive and felt himself drawn to her spirit. Over the years, and especially since he had seen her that first day working on the project, his dreams had been filled with all the wicked things he wanted them to do together. Yet that wasn't the only thing that invaded his dreams lately. He thought about their discussions about engineering design, running together last week and even what it would be like to introduce her to his parents.

He was beginning to realize that this was more than a crush or physical attraction. What he couldn't believe is how quickly he was falling for her. He didn't think he was in love with her yet, but he was definitely enjoying the fall.

Just as Tom introspection reached that surprising conclusion, B'Elanna joined him at the start of the jogging path. She'd been doing some thinking of her own prior to joining him for their planned run and coffee date.

She'd been reflecting on the ease of their interactions over the last two weeks. Sure, Wednesday had been edgy, but they both had been professional despite the underlying tension. But the last few days, since she accepted his offer to take some time together, had been interesting. The verbal sparring had been mostly innuendo free which was good since they had only seen each other at work, but still extremely stimulating for both her mind and her hormones.

The change in how she viewed him was the most shocking thing to her. If someone had asked her two weeks ago what she thought about Tom Paris, she would have said a traitorous jerk that did a good job at flying a ship but couldn't contain either his ego or his sex drive in the attractive package he walked around in.

Now, he was still a good pilot, though she had discovered that there were brains behind that innate skill. He was good at what he did, and intelligent enough to constantly improve his own skills and the quality of the equipment he was using. Additionally, he still had the attractive package, and a good sized ego but he had also toned down that sex drive and stopped directing it at anything that was missing a Y chromosome.

It still shocked her that he had turned his attentions exclusively towards her. She knew she wasn't unattractive, but how could this amazing specimen of humanity be interested in a hot tempered hybrid like her? But then again he kept baiting her on purpose to draw out her temper. Maybe he was some type of masochist.

No matter what, he was here, waiting for her with a huge smile on his lips, a smile which she couldn't help but return as she approached. He again reached out and ran his hand from her elbow down to her hand, this time squeezing slightly before letting go which he hadn't done the previous night. It was also different since it was skin against skin due to the tank top she had on for their run. She hoped that she was able to hide the shiver that went through her body at the contact, but from his grin as his hand left her skin, she wasn't sure.

Needing to get back control of the situation, B'Elanna forced the smile off her face before addressing him. "Ready to go, Flyboy?"

But Tom wasn't about to let the challenge go unanswered. He turned his smile into a smirk before answering, "For you, always."

Then, out of self preservation, Tom started running so that she wouldn't follow through on the threat he saw in her eyes after his flippant words. Shaking her head she took off after him, quickly catching up and passing him.

Of course she made sure to bump shoulders with him as she passed, knocking him off his stride. If she wasn't at a track competition, she was going to pull out all the dirty tricks she needed in order to keep him from having the upper hand. Luckily for Tom, with his longer legs, he was quickly able to catch up and soon they were running comfortably side by side as they had the previous week.

The conversation while they were running was kept to fairly innocuous topics. One item they talked about the various Holodeck programs they were interested in. After years in the Delta Quadrant with only the Holodeck to amuse themselves, there had been some intricate programs designed by the crew. Despite all the work, one of B'Elanna's favorite spots was the Resort program that Neelix had designed. With her Klingon blood, she much preferred to be in warm climates, such as a tropical beach.

Having just spent the last week in the Holodeck, the conversation quickly turned to other topics. Having already discussed Maquis they had both known while on the Darwin, the conversation turned to some of the people on the project. Tom decided that he just had to know if it was just him who thought that Seven was a Vulcan in disguise.

"So," Tom started, "Has Seven always been so, abrupt?"

"This is an improvement," B'Elanna replied with a laugh.

"And the Admiral let her get away with it?" Tom asked incredulously.

"Constantly," B'Elanna responded after she was finally able to catch her breath. Laughing while running is not the smartest move. "In fact, Janeway took her under her wing after she came on board and attempted to teach her the intricacies of social interaction."

"She certainly didn't do a very good job of it," Tom said. "She could use a lesson or two in tact. And her senses of logic and humor rival that of a Vulcan."

"She did spend a lot of time around Tuvok," B'Elanna replied. "But, the sad thing is that this really is an improvement from when she first came on the ship. She at least has stopped giving orders most of the time and actually follows some of them if they are given to her."

"I'm surprised you put up with it," Tom responded.

"I didn't for a long time," B'Elanna said. "Still don't some of the time. She knows her stuff most of them time, but just doesn't know how to express it. How Chakotay puts up with her, I have no clue."

"How did those two get together?" Tom asked.

"No one has the full story," B'Elanna replied. "I do know that the Doc was upset once it finally came out that they were dating. He had a thing for her as well. What Chakotay told me before it came out was that he was helping her with her social skills. I'm guessing he must have found a working heart under that Borg armor."

"I'm seeing the picture of her ignoring your orders to stop and pushing you out of the way to make adjustments to your warp core," Tom said with a laugh before continuing with a question. "Did you ever break her nose?"

"No," B'Elanna responded, with a grin of her own before schooling her face into a more serious expression. "Some of her implants are just under the skin, so I didn't want to break my hand hitting her."

This time it was Tom who could barely keep up the pace since he was laughing too hard to actually breathe and run at the same time. "You're giving her a pretty good run for the money as a straight man," Tom finally choked out.

"Laugh it up flyboy," B'Elanna growled at him. "You didn't have to work with her everyday for the last three years."

Immediately Tom sobered up at his reaction. It wasn't so much the words she said as the shiver that ran through him as she growled at him. He knew it wasn't fear, as he was certain after their sparring session he could hold his own in a fight with her. After a moment he realized that it was an intense, almost debilitating sense of attraction, and he desperately started reciting Starfleet regulations in his head to ensure his physical reaction to her growl wasn't apparent.

B'Elanna quickly realized that something was the matter. Running through the words she just said, she didn't think she did anything to offend him and put that blank look on his face, but she was sure that something was the matter. After a minute she decided to go ahead and ask since they were approaching the end of the running path, "Are you alright?"

Tom had never been so happy to see the end of a run. He was so desperately trying to keep his blood flowing, without making any unnecessary detours that he almost missed her question. As he processed the words he realized that if he was to admit his true cause of concern, that he had been fighting his desire to jump her right there on the running path just because she growled at him, she would take off running in the other direction. Deciding that he wanted to keep certain parts of himself intact, even if he was a little mad at their reaction right at the moment, he decided a little white lie was in order.

"Just a stitch in my side from laughing while running," Tom finally answered as they slowed to a stop. He then made big show of rubbing his side and stretching to try to alleviate the imaginary crap. Another plus was that the stretches also allowed him to choose positions so that his not so little secret wouldn't be given away.

B'Elanna looked at him for a moment, trying to decide if it was worth it to call him on the lie that she was sure he just told. Deciding that it really wasn't that important to know what had sobered him up so quickly she instead started her own cool-down stretches and changed the subject. "So where is this coffee place?"

The few minutes of stretches had provided the time he needed to finally calm down his body's reaction and so his smile as he answered was more relaxed and genuine. "Just around the corner," Tom answered. "They have a couple of outside tables with a great view of the park."

"That sounds nice," B'Elanna responded as she gestured for him to lead the way.

They quickly fell back into an easy rhythm of conversation as they made their way to the café and sat at the table. The only interruption was when Tom went to place their order at the counter. But only a few minutes later he returned with their tray of drinks and pastries.

They continued their discussion of the quirks of Seven for a few more minutes. The two of them finally decided that when she was removed from the collective she must have retained the personalities of a Vulcan and a Ferengi instead of her own since she was so logical yet had no problem breaking the rules to meet her own goals.

After that interesting conclusion they sipped their drinks in a comfortable silence for a couple minutes, taking the time look around and just enjoy the park. Finally B'Elanna was no longer able to hold back and asked a question that had been rolling around in her mind for the last couple weeks.

"One question I have for you," B'Elanna asked. "That first dinner at your house, you reacted very strongly to something I said."

Tom looked confused, voicing it with a simple "What about?"

"When I mentioned the Holodeck scenario where they simulated a pregnancy," B'Elanna responded.

"It did bother me," Tom replied. "Rape is, in many ways the worst crime a person can commit. Killing someone ends their life, but raping them is something they have to live with forever. I may have been with a lot of women in my life, but I would never consider having sex with someone without their full consent."

"Wow," B'Elanna commented. "You are really passionate on the subject."

"A person's body is the only thing that truly belongs to them," Tom said. "Sharing that with someone else, whether in a one night stand or in a fifty year long marriage is the most trusting thing a person can do. No matter how drunk I was when I took a woman to bed, I would always remember that I was receiving a gift of trust. I would never do anything to abuse that. How someone else could, I simply can't understand. But I also can't understand how someone could sell themselves to others either. I may have been to some low spots in my life, but I can't fathom being in that position."

"I'm sorry," Tom continued. "The last thing you want to hear is about how many women I've slept with."

"Actually," B'Elanna said, "I'm wondering if there is a reason why this is so important to you? Is there a personal reason why?"

"I don't understand what you mean?" Tom said with confusion.

"Argh," B'Elanna said in frustration. "Usually you're pretty intuitive, but when it's this embarrassing you make me spell it out." Taking a couple of deep breaths, she continued. "Did you have that problem in Auckland?"

"Oh," Tom said as understanding hit him. "I thought I had already blurted out that I was celibate for the seven years in Auckland four days ago."

Tom stopped for a second trying to gage how much he needed to tell her. Realizing that she deserved full disclosure, he decided to tell a little about his first fight in prison. "There was only one instance at Auckland where the other prisoners even got close to doing anything but trying to beat me up, and it didn't get passed tearing the top of my jumpsuit before I put a stop to that. But my opinions on rape predated that incident. I've always felt that way."

"Surprising considering how much you talk about sex," B'Elanna responded.

"I'm a guy," Tom said with a laugh. "If we don't think about sex a certain number of times a day we get kicked out of the locker room. Am I really that bad now?"

"I guess not," B'Elanna responded.

"I know that when you first met me," Tom started, "Almost everything that came out of my mouth was a pickup line or an attempt at innuendo. But I was at a dark time in my life. I drank heavily and spent a lot of time picking up women. But that was my way of dealing with it. It may not have been the best way, but I lived through it and tried not to cause any permanent damage to others."

"I can't change who I was," Tom continued quietly. "But I can tell you that's not who I've been in a very long time. I've tried to show you that, but I'm not sure I've been really successful."

After a minute B'Elanna answered with a slight smile, "It shows."

Again they took a few moments to look around at their surroundings, letting the heavy issues digest in their minds. They had been sitting on the outside patio of the coffee shop for over an hour nursing their drinks and enjoying the pastries. But the heat of the run that had caused them to sit outside had dissipated in the cool San Francisco air and B'Elanna was the first to realize that if they didn't get inside soon they wouldn't be able to ignore the chill.

Rubbing her arms to ward off the chill she said, "I guess it's time I head out."

"It is starting to feel cool," Tom said reluctantly. He was afraid, despite the ease of conversation and the connection that she felt that his chance to start something more with her might be slipping away. Since she had turned down his request for a true date and substituted this the last time he asked, he wasn't sure if he should try asking for another one right away. Not willing to leave it with just a goodbye, he decided to at least schedule them for another run the next day. "So, same time tomorrow?"

"I can do the run," B'Elanna said, continuing with a little reluctance, "But I promised to meet Harry and Libby for brunch tomorrow."

Struggling to not allow his disappointment at not getting time to talk afterward show, Tom replied, "That would be fine."

B'Elanna in turn realized that he wasn't going to push her. She was the one that had made him back off at first and the one who had limited his request for a date to just coffee after their run. He would respect her request for space and just be there as her friend for now.

But how long would he wait. He was just out of prison after over seven years and had spent almost all of his time with family or the project team. How long until he stopped his irrational pursuit of her and found someone else? Was she willing to risk it?

Tom had stood up and bused their table of the plates and cups. As he returned to the table, B'Elanna made her decision. She enjoyed spending time with him and she wasn't about to throw that away due to her lingering fear of commitment. Yes, he could decide tomorrow that she wasn't worth it, but she'd gone through that since she was five and her father left, so that wouldn't be anything new. As for his friendship, Harry and she had maintained that after their breakup, so maybe she and Tom wouldn't lose that either.

"Tom," B'Elanna said with resolve.

"Yes," Tom replied as he slid back into his seat across from her.

"I bet Harry would love to have you join us tomorrow," B'Elanna continued. "Would you like to join me? It's at Libby's house at nine-thirty."

"I'd love to," Tom said, breaking out another breathtaking smile just like the one he had displayed a few days before when she had accepted his proposal to meet after their run today.

Embarrassed, B'Elanna looked away as she stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow at seven?"

Tom wasn't about to let her sneak out without a goodbye. He quickly stood up to join her. Tom gently took her elbow and encouraged her to turn and face him, before replying, "Let me know if Harry has any problems with my joining you."

Then he decided to be a little bolder than the previous day. It may not be a true date, but they still did get together for coffee. In addition to running his hand from her elbow to her hand and holding it for a second, he brought his head down and kissed her check before letting go of her hand and turning to walk towards his house. Taking a few steps away, he then turned to look back at her and take in her surprised expression before leaving with a departing comment and smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

B'Elanna remained in place for a minute, shocked at how much the simple gesture of a kiss on the check had both delighted and excited her. Her Klingon half was cringing from the sweetness of the gesture, but all of her was jumping for joy at the emotion implied behind it.

* * *

**_Thank you for sticking with me this far. _**

**_Unfortunately updates are going to be a little slower for the next few months. I'm still working full time and just picked up two classes so I'm aiming to do updates once a month. I have the next few chapters planned out and have already written about half of the next chapter._**


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun.

**_A/N - Sorry for the long delay, but the good news is that this is the longest chapter yet, so I hope this was worth the wait._**

_**Thanks to starrylaa for her beta**_

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 18

Their meeting the next day at the start of the running path was much more comfortable than that of the previous day. Both were a little more secure in how the other felt, especially since B'Elanna had sent Tom a message the previous evening confirming that they were meeting for brunch with Harry and the directions to Libby's house.

This time, Tom didn't restrain himself as much when it came to the greeting. Instead of the simple brush of his hand across her arm that he had been doing, Tom leaned down and gave her a quick hug to go along with the kiss on her cheek that he started yesterday. B'Elanna was surprised at his actions, but recovered quick enough to pat him on the back and avoid the hug being one sided.

Despite her initial discomfort at him touching her relatively intimately without her permission, she was surprised at how right the hug seemed. Despite the height difference, he seemed to fit into her arms in that moment of contact. Not ready to explore that line of thinking, she quickly stepped back and did a couple of light stretches before setting off.

For Tom, the hug was perfect. He didn't feel odd or uncomfortable leaning down to reach her. Her arms, as brief as the contact was, felt right as they touched his back. If he hadn't been sure about pursuing her, he was now.

Today they both stayed fairly quiet during their run. There was light, easy conversation, but very little of the teasing banter they normally shared. Both were taking the time to enjoy the burn of running for the second day straight after a week's layoff and to organize their own thoughts.

Tom was certain that he wanted to take the time to properly pursue B'Elanna. He didn't just want a physical relationship with her. He wasn't ready to say that she was 'the one' but he did know that she was more than just the one for right now. Not only was he extremely attracted to her physically, but his attraction grew every time they talked, argued, bantered or flirted.

His concern was that he didn't want to scare her off by coming on too strong. From the little he'd gathered about her dating history, it appeared to be very sparse. In the Maquis she'd been called frigid and emotionless, though there had been rumors that she had liked to let off steam and hook up while in port. The rumors were very specific about the fact that it was always a local and always a one shot deal.

From what he could discreetly gather of their time on Voyager, it was the same kind of deal. The only relationship he could find was with Harry Kim, and those two were so mismatched that it was laughable. From his not quite legal perusal of the records his father had on Voyager's time in the Delta Quadrant, it appeared that the relationship might have been triggered by some alien experimentation on hormones gone awry. While no one was sure when the experimentation began, the two had suddenly and unexpectedly gone from friends to being in a relationship. Plus the liaison terminated on the day the manipulation was discovered. He'd been able to find some rumors of hookups on board, but nothing that went beyond a simple mention on the gossip boards.

If he wanted this to work, he definitely couldn't just jump into a repeat of last Tuesday night's experience. As satisfying as he was sure it would be for both of them, he was looking for more than just a physical release. His body may be craving her, but he had to make sure they didn't push the physical boundaries too early. That being said, he knew that his willpower was not the highest after only one night out and so many years in prison. He would have to make sure to keep himself out of temptations away for as long as he thought she needed to learn to trust him.

While Tom was thinking over how to keep from pushing B'Elanna's boundaries, she was trying to decide if it was worth keeping them up. Like Tom, she was pretty sure that while a quick romp would be mutually satisfying, it wasn't what she was really looking for with him. She was starting to think that it might be worth it to put herself on the line for a little more. The sex she had engaged in during most of her life had been purely a physical release. She knew that she was missing out on the connection, but hadn't realized how to achieve it.

Tom was spot on with the research he had done, as B'Elanna reflected on her lack of long term, or to be honest even short term relationships. She shied away from dwelling on the cause and instead tried to decide if he was worth taking the risk of putting herself out there.

B'Elanna knew that was part of the reason she got so close with Harry. The attraction that spurred them to actually start dating may have been pushed by outside forces like Vorik's Pon Farr and the alien experiments, but the underlying connection of friendship was something new and special. He wasn't her first close friend, but even with Chakotay she had confused the closeness for attraction for a while before she realized that he was definitely more of a big brother to her.

Maybe that connection of friendship was part of the reason she was connecting to Tom, but it was probably more. The pure physical attraction she felt towards him, on top of the friendship she was building wasn't something she had ever truly felt before. It almost exceeded what those aliens had forced her body to feel, and that had been impossible to fight.

For that reason alone, she almost considered pushing him away. The fear of the unknown, fear of him leaving was going to leave her alone. Was that what she wanted?

As with their last run, the conversation was centered around the quirks and personalities of the people on the project. Tom surprised her with his observations regarding the new folks to the project. He found plenty of funny quirks to comment on despite the limited time he had spent with them. Additionally, B'Elanna was quite shocked at how accurate his assumptions were on some of the former Voyager crew. It had taken her years to catch some of the things he had caught in two weeks.

The one topic that was only glossed over during their discussion about the original crew was what happened with everyone upon their return home. The parties and promotion ceremonies were discussed, but he found it intriguing that the reunion with families merited only a slight mention. From the sparse information in her official records and his escapade into his father's records, he gathered that her father had left them and that she had not returned to see her mother for any length of time since leaving for the Academy.

Tom was pretty sure that her estrangement with her family was a significant cause of her avoidance of relationships. Whereas he had always had a woman on his arm prior to the accident, whether for two weeks or engaged as he had been to Ricki, she seemed to avoid those entanglements. He found comfort in having someone wanting to be with him which was so unlike his father's behavior while she seemed to push people away, perhaps to avoid having to feel the disappointment of being let down.

He reached this conclusion as they finished their morning run. Deciding that it would be a tricky topic to bring up, especially as they were finishing their run, he resolved to see what he could learn later when they were with Harry and Libby.

As they stopped to do some cool down stretches Tom asked, "So is this a formal event?"

"It's just the four of us over at Libby's," B'Elanna answered.

"I meant," Tom said with a laugh, "What is the dress code?"

"I don't know," B'Elanna responded sharply. "What would you normally wear?'

"Well," Tom started before stepping closer and bending in a stretch that put him at eye level with her. "I don't think they'd appreciate my prison jumpsuit very much."

B'Elanna joined him in laughing for a moment before she slapped his arm and responded, "Casual should be fine."

"I'll see you in just over an hour," Tom said before leaning forward and placing a kiss on her cheek, just a centimeter away from the left side of her mouth. Then, with a huge grin he turned and jogged off.

By the time that B'Elanna recovered from the surprise of that almost kiss; Tom had jogged too far away to respond without yelling. She turned and headed off to her apartment to change and try to calm down the desire to grab him and make him kiss her properly.

*****

At nine twenty five B'Elanna stepped off the transport a block from Libby's and turned to head off before stopping in shock at the fact that Tom was waiting for her.

"I thought that we were meeting there?" she finally managed as he stepped towards her.

"I just," Tom said before hesitating and reaching to take her hand and continuing. "I wasn't sure what you said to Harry about inviting me. I didn't want to walk in and assume anything."

For a moment B'Elanna just studied his face and body language. He was gently running his thumb across the back of her hand as he held it, but the rest of him screamed out that he was worried or afraid about something.

Not really sure about what answer he was looking for, she decided to just be honest. She pulled a little on the hand he held and headed off towards their brunch with him in tow. "I didn't say anything," She finally responded.

Deciding to go ahead and put herself out there a little, she turned to him just before they reached the building and put her other hand over their joined one for a moment and then took both her hands back and started into the building ahead of him. Calling over her shoulder, so that she couldn't see his face, she continued. "I figured we already did a coffee date, so the next step is a full breakfast."

Tom had a huge grin on his face as he joined her on the Turbolift for the short ride to the third floor. Though he was eager to take her hand again, he settled for keeping a hand at the small of her back as they walked up to Libby's door.

Harry answered the door shortly after they pressed the announcer and didn't seem surprised to see them arrive together. He lead them both out onto the balcony where there was a mini-bar set up for mimosas.

Handing them both a drink, Harry said, "It was nice of both of you to join us."

With a big grin on his face, Tom answered, "Well, B'Elanna was good enough to invite me…"

With that dangerous of a grin on his face, B'Elanna wasn't about to let him finish that sentence. Instead she broke in and answered, "I figured it was the least I could do after kicking his ass on the running path this morning."

Harry just sat back and smiled as he watched the two of them. He was happy that his unspoken question had been answered, since he had been freaked out enough by the possible reaction B'Elanna would have to even the innocent one he asked. Thank goodness Tom seemed to be earning her wrath, rather than him. Though the wink Tom just sent him told him that Tom knew exactly what he was doing and whose butt he was saving when he answered the question.

Rather than call any unnecessary attention to himself, he joined Libby in finishing putting out the food and watched the show. While they obviously were more than friends, he didn't think they had actually slept together just yet. The sexual tension that radiated out from them when Tom had laid his hand on her back to lead her onto the balcony seemed to have been too potent for them to have done anything towards resolving it.

Before they either killed each other or jumped each other, Harry announced that brunch was ready and had them come to the kitchen where the various dishes had been laid out. Everyone grabbed a plate and took from the buffet before sitting together at the relatively small kitchen table.

For a few minutes the only talk was of how delicious the various dishes were and compliments to the cook. Apparently, while some things had been replicated, a few had been made from scratch, including the fresh squeezed orange juice they had already been drinking. Then they moved on to light topics before finally everyone was full. Not willing to have the guests leave just yet, Libby directed everyone to her living room to sit down and talk some more. She and Harry took the love seat while Tom and B'Elanna settled a foot away from each other on the couch.

Tom decided that now that they were comfortably seated and satiated from the meal it might be time to get some answers to his questions regarding B'Elanna. Since Harry was her best friend and had even briefly dated her, perhaps he might have some ideas as to why she seemed to be so afraid of forming connections with others. He was certain that it had something to do with her family, so he decided to steer the conversation there.

"So there was all the fanfare when you guys got back," Tom started, "At least from the gossip I heard, but what was it like actually walking off the ship?"

"What was it like walking out of prison?" B'Elanna countered.

Libby gasped; shocked that she would ask that type of question.

"That's a very valid question," Tom said as he smiled at B'Elanna. "While I wasn't sent across the galaxy, I was separated from polite society for over seven years. The most significant difference is that, while there was a time that I was estranged from my family, they always knew where I was and how to find me."

"I'm still adjusting," Tom continued. "Sometimes I'll stand in front of the replicator and can't make a decision. I'm so used to just being handed my food that I just freeze up."

"I completely understand," Harry said. "I went to order something for breakfast the first week we were back and I asked the computer how many rations I had."

"We used to be able to earn credits for good behavior, extra chores and such," Tom responded. "The first few years I used to love getting to choose something from the twenty items we had available. Later, once I had reconciled with my family, I used to save all my credits to buy extra visiting time."

"Once the Pathfinder project was allowing us contact from home, a minute of time was like gold for trading on Voyager," Harry answered. "I think I gave up my rations and most of my Holodeck time for a month to get an extra few minutes with my parents."

"I know," B'Elanna interjected with a grin. "I certainly enjoyed the extra credits."

"I completely understand wanting the extra time," Tom replied. "When my mom got really sick, I heard a rumor that they might grant day passes to non-violent offenders to attend funerals of close family members. I went to one of the guards who was actually pretty nice to me most of the time and asked him if that might be true. He said sure they might even be able to do more time away from Auckland if I was lucky. However, there was a price. I told him I would do just about anything."

The other three were leaning forward, caught up in the story. B'Elanna was racking her brain trying to figure out what exactly the guard could be asking for.

After a moment to let the anticipation build, Tom continued. "The guard turned to me and said that he didn't think I was quite up for the cost of this. So I'm standing there in front of him wondering what I just got myself into when he turns to me with a smirk. He told me that the escape pass came with a price of another five to ten added to your sentence before he started laughing. He's pretty lucky that a couple of other guards joined him at that point because I was about to risk the time in solitary to kick his ass."

His audience seemed equally horrified that the guard would take a joke that far. But after a moment, B'Elanna remembered something and questioned Tom. "Didn't you say that you're staying with your parents?" As she said it, she placed special emphasis on the plural of the word.

"You're right," Tom answered. "Less than a week later, my mom finally began to respond to the treatments. She got to see her second daughter married and is currently awaiting the birth of her second grandchild since her, as she calls it, second chance at life."

"Of course," Tom continued, "I'm sure you heard tons of stories of people missing out on the important events. After all, you were missing and presumed lost for what, three years?"

"Just over four years," Harry corrected, "Before the Doctor was sent through the array to the Alpha Quadrant and Starfleet realized we had been thrown into the Delta Quadrant and not killed in the plasma storms of the Badlands."

"Even when I was in the Maquis," Tom said, "I had the option of calling my parents. Of course I didn't want anything to do with them, but to not even be able to do that..."

"The look on this kid's face," B'Elanna said with a laugh, "As Neelix would pass out more and more of the first batch of letters home, and it wasn't for him. I was petrified when we were losing the link to the Hirogen relay network that I wouldn't be able to get Harry's message. I had to deliver that one personally. His smile could have powered the warp core for a week."

"We knew that Starfleet would have told our families," Harry countered, "But actually hearing from them that they knew we were alive, it was just, wow."

"So you all were able to contact your families?" Tom asked.

B'Elanna and Harry just looked at each other for a second before Libby jumped in with her own comments.

"After so long," Libby said, "Starfleet had declared them missing and presumed lost, so many of us had moved on. Others, like Harry's parents, never gave up hope. I was in the group that just didn't know what to do."

With a timid shrug, Libby continued. "All my friends were pushing me to go out with them and setting me up on blind dates. I didn't want to believe Harry was gone, but I also didn't want to stay alone for the rest of my life if he was. After we established contact, we exchanged letters and realized that we both felt the same way. He didn't want me to put my life on hold since at that point it was another forty year trip home and I agreed. We officially ended the engagement, but stayed in touch as friends."

Harry smiled at her and picked up the story. "We remained close, and once we completed the first coaxial drive jump, we talked and decided to stop seeing other people and try again once I returned."

"That is an amazing story," Tom said.

"Of course," Harry responded, "Not everyone had such a happy story. There were spouses who remarried and relatives who were lost."

The last comment was said with a significant look towards B'Elanna. After a beat he continued, keeping his gaze on B'Elanna. "There were a few relatives who where unreachable due to the after effects of the war with the Dominion. And, of course, there were those who we were not close to before who contacted us for the celebrity factor, and conversely those who stayed away for the same reason."

"Sounds like a lot of traffic on the Pathfinder project," Tom commented.

"Full data stream every month," B'Elanna answered, "With plenty more waiting in line if even a tiny window was found for more data."

"But not every communication was through Pathfinder," Harry interjected.

"What do you mean?" Tom asked as B'Elanna shot a very dirty look towards Harry.

Harry shied away from answering for a moment before looking between Tom and B'Elanna and decided that the connection between them was worth the skin she would take off him later for intervening in her business.

"There were a couple of instances of various crew members dreaming about happenings in the Alpha Quadrant that were accurate," Harry said. Before continuing he moved a little closer to Libby on the love seat they were sharing to try to gain the resolve to ignore the nasty look B'Elanna was shooting him.

"Most significantly there was the case of a crew member almost dying," Harry continued, "And seeing a dying relative before the Doctor brought them back. Then this crew member went to the Captain and purposely tried to die again in order to see her mother off to Sto-Vo-Kor."

Tom had been interested in the story Harry was telling, but when the final word was said, his eyes lit up. He quickly realized that it must have been B'Elanna, since there was no one else on the ship with any Klingon blood. Realizing the gift that Harry just handed him, he quickly tried to come up with a plan to ask more about B'Elanna's family without upsetting her too much.

"So," Tom started, "Since you're still here, I'm assuming you were successful in getting your mother into Sto-Vo-Kor."

B'Elanna turned toward him, about to tear into him with her anger, when she stopped and processed what he said. His tone was sincere and his face conveyed his interest in hearing her answer, not pity or laughter that she definitely didn't want to hear. Taking a deep breath, she decided to bury her anger and answer him truthfully. After all, if she was truly going to try a relationship with him, he would eventually find out her mother was dead.

"After what I went though," B'Elanna said quietly, "I'd hope so. I'm not a huge believer in Klingon traditions, but even if it was only in my subconscious, it was a learning experience about who I am. We didn't find out until months later that she did die on the day that I had that first near death experience."

Tom had reached out while she was telling her story and started to rub her arm gently; trying to convey his support while she answered what appeared to be a difficult question. Normally B'Elanna would have immediately shrugged away from such contact, but rather than frustrating or annoying her, Tom's hand was soothing and allowed her to complete her thoughts.

"That must have been difficult to hear," Tom said evenly, careful not to inject any pity in his voice as he knew that she would not appreciate it.

"We hadn't talked in over seven years," B'Elanna replied. "We had our differences, but I guess this was a way to say goodbye."

"I certainly understand the estrangement," Tom responded, "But I can't even imagine what I would feel if my father had passed away and we hadn't reconnected."

Tom and B'Elanna looked at each other for a few moments, drawing strength from the fact that they could understand each other. Tom could also see that she was done baring her soul for everyone to see and he decided to lighten the mood. "Very important question," Tom said struggling to keep his face absolutely serious. "Do the pain sticks hurt as much in a near death experience as they do in real life?"

Tom's question not only caused B'Elanna to lightly smack the hand that had been comforting her but broke the tension that had building with the deep words that had been spoken. As the conversation turned back to more lighthearted topics, B'Elanna briefly took the hand she had smacked into her own and rubbed her fingers where she had smacked him in an apology.

Conversation continued flowing as they talked about some of the funnier stories that came out of the communications from Pathfinder project. B'Elanna had everyone laughing at some of the antics people pulled to try to get an extra few seconds of time on the link.

Time quickly passed and soon Tom realized that they had been sitting there for hours. Not wanting to overstay his welcome, he stopped them before another story started and started taking his leave. With a look toward B'Elanna, she quickly followed his lead and extracted herself as well.

"Wow, we've taken up way too long of your day," Tom said as he reluctantly rose. "I really appreciate you letting me come over on such short notice. I've had a wonderful time."

"Thank you for having us over," B'Elanna said as she stood as well.

The goodbyes went quickly once Tom and B'Elanna started to leave. However, B'Elanna was slightly uncomfortable with the fact that both Harry and Libby gave her a hug as she went to leave. It wasn't the first time she had hugged Harry, but it just wasn't the same as the one she had shared with Tom first thing this morning. While the hug with Tom had felt comfortable and somehow right, the one with Harry was awkward.

She quietly reflected on that as Tom finished his goodbyes. She also noticed that the hug Tom gave to Libby was quick and looked as awkward as hers had been. Of course that could just have been her hopes, but it seemed like he hadn't quite enjoyed it as much as he had when he gave her the one this morning.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Tom put his hand on B'Elanna's back to guide her to the turbolift. They exchanged hesitant but happy smiles as they entered the turbolift and began the decent.

"So what are you doing this afternoon?" B'Elanna asked quietly.

Tom responded with a big smile that quickly slid into a smirk as he responded. "I was hoping to walk this beautiful lady I know to the transport station."

"And you really think this woman would have anything to do with you?" B'Elanna replied with her own smirk as they started off the turbolift.

"I don't know," Tom responded as he gently took her hand and lead her out of the building. "Have I scared you off yet?"

"Not yet," B'Elanna said as she intertwined her fingers with his. "Though there is always tomorrow."

"And what are we doing tomorrow?" Tom questioned.

"Working," B'Elanna replied.

"I promised I would be on my best behavior at work," Tom said then decided to tease her and put on a pleading face as he continued. "Wasn't I a good boy last week?"

Shaking her head, B'Elanna decided to ignore his question. He didn't need any more encouragement to tease her at work. Instead she leaned on her Klingon side and plunged herself into one of her more difficult battles. Realizing that he would again wait for her to signal that she was ready to try a relationship she gave him an opening.

"So," B'Elanna started, amazed that her voice wasn't shaking. "I'm guessing you wouldn't mind meeting up again next weekend."

Tom took a moment to look at her try to figure out if she was looking for friendship or more. Deciding that if he didn't ask, he would never know, he dove in with the question.

"I'd love to meet up with you for running next weekend," Tom said. "But, I'd also like to take you out for dinner this week." Seeing that she hadn't pulled her hand away and actually looked happy with his request, he continued. "Would you like to go out for dinner after work on Wednesday?"

Having reached the transport station, she stopped and faced him before responding. Taking a deep breath and forcing her body and voice to not betray her nervousness, B'Elanna responded, "I'd like that."

At the huge smile that appeared on Tom's face, some of her nervousness drifted away, replaced by pleasure at having made him so happy. She didn't understand it, but for some reason he was truly enjoying spending time with her.

As her transport pulled up a moment later, Tom pulled her into another hug. This time, she didn't hesitate to put her own arms around him. As they pulled back, she could see in his eyes that he wanted to give her a kiss. As much as the thought of that excited her, she didn't want their first kiss to be rushed as she had to jump onto the transport. Not wanting to leave him hanging, she quickly moved one hand to his cheek and gave him a kiss on the other before quickly pulling away to head home.

As she stepped on, she heard his "I'll see you tomorrow." The last thing she saw as they pulled away was the look of pure joy on his face, which was probably mirrored on her own.

* * *

**_A/N - Again, sorry for the long delay. I had hoped to have this out within a month, but RL has taken some drastic turns in the last month._**

**_First the good news. I have a page or so of the next chapter done and I guarantee that our favorite pair will finally get that first kiss. _**

**_The rest of my news is not so good if you hate waiting. I promise I am going to continue this story, but I doubt that I will be able to get the next few chapters up any quicker than this one. I have a been overloaded with work and school plus very stressed about some changes going on in RL. None of which has been very conducive to writing. I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to leave me comments as they do help motivate me to write. _**


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun.

_**Thanks to starrylaa for her beta - She did an amazing job of turning this around quickly for you guys.**_

_**I do want to apologize for the delay. I have a couple of reasons for it that I can share. One good one - I just got my acceptance into a graduate program. One not so good – my hard drive died and I lost everything saved on my laptop. However, its not all bad for you guys since I like to work on my stories at both work and home, so I had a fairly recent version of this chapter as well as my notes on the next saved on my web based e-mail, though all my other in progress stuff or ideas for other stories are gone.**_

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 19

If everyone had thought that things went well between the Commander and the civilian test pilot the previous week, they were in for a big surprise this week. It was nothing compared to how well they functioned together now. The ease in which they worked around each other was amazing.

They weren't reading each other's minds, but from time to time they were anticipating each other's next moves. Tom had almost a second sense of when B'Elanna was done working on a section of revised code and needed a pilot's view on workability. For her part, B'Elanna felt like she was unconsciously telegraphing her anticipation that he would be working closely with her.

Either way, the rest of the crew was smart enough to not comment on the increasing closeness between the pair. While there were definitely a few people changing their bets in the pool, the general consensus was that the sexual tension was still unresolved. There were some side bets as to where that tension might be relieved, though even at this point all of the Voyager crew were certain that after the reprimands following the scientific experiments, B'Elanna wasn't about to get caught in public again. The surprising thing was that there were no longer any holdouts to the fact that at some point the sexual tension would be relieved. One or two might have placed bets on the fact that one of them would die during or shortly thereafter, but they would still work out their desires first.

Monday evening, Tom stayed behind an extra couple minutes working. Or at least that's what he hoped everyone thought he was doing. While he was going over some of the flight simulation results for the latest modification, his real purpose for staying late was to get a few minutes alone with the boss. He didn't think she would appreciate if he asked his question during work, even if it was done in the relative privacy of her office. Taking a look around to verify that everyone had left, Tom left his station and walked to stand near B'Elanna, leaning against the neighboring station.

"Where would you like to go for dinner on Wednesday?" Tom asked.

B'Elanna took a quick glance around the room to confirm they were alone. Then with suppressed grin she answered, "I thought you were keeping it professional at work?"

Tom took a step closer to her and suppressed a smirk of his own before answering. "According to the computer, work ended ten minutes ago and the last person just left on the turbolift. If you don't want to go out, just tell me."

Uncomfortable with the intensity of his stare, B'Elanna broke eye contact and turned back to her computer before replying. "Where would you like to go?"

Tom laughed at the fact she just repeated his question back at him. She turned and gave him a scathing look before realizing exactly what she said. Instead of answering she just looked a little apologetic for the nasty look and shrugged her shoulder.

Deciding to have a little fun, Tom carefully schooled his features into a more serious look before continuing. "I heard about this new vegetarian place. They're trying an avante guard cuisine."

Without looking up, B'Elanna simply murmured an "Uh huh."

Not able to completely hide the smile that was bubbling up, Tom was glad her back was turned on him as he started talking. "Yup, they are offering one hundred and one ways to make Leola Root," B'Elanna's head shut up at that, but she still didn't turn around as Tom struggled to control his laugh as he continued. "I thought you might miss a bit of home."

With that, B'Elanna could no longer contain herself and turned around intent on correcting his false notion that anyone in their right mind who wasn't Talaxian might actually like Leola Root. It was at that point that she caught his expression, which had broken out into a wide smile. Slowly she stalked the couple of feet separating them, a feral smile coming to her lips.

With a bit of bite in her tone, B'Elanna answered, "If you're so interested in Leola Root, I'm sure I could convince Neelix to let you sample all his favorite recipes. I believe he was up to over a thousand uses at last count."

While Tom didn't shrink back from her while she advanced, he did manage to contain his former glee quite easily and arrange his face in a contrite expression. His quick offer of an alternate location may not have been out of fear, but certainly contained a healthy dose of self preservation in light of an enraged half-Klingon stalking him. "I heard about a great steakhouse a couple of blocks from here. Would you like to go there?"

B'Elanna held her smile for a minute before deciding to let him off the hook. Since Tom had never had the pleasure of tasting Leola Root, he didn't really mean to threaten her with death by hideous cuisine. Deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt, she gave him a warning before dismissing him. "That sounds good, but don't ever threaten me with Leola Root again or I'll make sure Neelix issues you a dinner invitation." Since he was standing so close, she decided to make sure he headed out. She put her hand on his arm and used it to give him a push toward the door. "It's getting late Tom, so I'll see you tomorrow."

Tom gave her a smile before throwing his hand up in a jaunty salute and sending her a "Yes Ma'am." Not wanting to risk any more of her wrath, he turned and forced himself not to skip in happiness to the door.

***

For both of them, Wednesday couldn't come quick enough. While they were enjoying their growing friendship, both of them realized that this dinner would be a turning point in their relationship. And both were resolved that it was not only time to take a risk on another person, but that the one joining them for dinner was the one worth that risk.

As the workday came to a close, again Tom was working in a separate section of the lab from B'Elanna, yet again going over more simulated results. But this time, Tom was certain that the results could have had Voyager flying into the middle of a gas giant and he probably would have missed it due to his nervousness. After all, it had been about eight years since he'd been on a proper first date.

It wasn't until B'Elanna put her hand on his shoulder that he even realized that they were alone in the room.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," B'Elanna said. "I'm just going to change out of this uniform."

Tom turned his head so that they were only inches apart and answered with a smile, "I'm not going anywhere."

For a moment they both just looked at each other, trying to decide who would cave first and move those few inches for the first kiss. Tom finally decided that if he was going to do a proper first date; he needed to save that for after dinner. Instead he turned his chair to face her and gave her a gentle push on the arm that was touching him before continuing. "If you're only going to be a few minutes, don't you need to get cracking?"

"Are you suggesting that I need a lot of work to get ready for a date?" B'Elanna said, unable to keep the smile out of her voice.

"No," Tom replied, not even bothering to hide his own grin. "I'm saying that I'm starving and you're holding us up from going to dinner."

B'Elanna gave him a smack on the shoulder as she headed out toward the restroom with a small bag. "Just for that, I'm going to make sure to take some extra time."

For a moment Tom could do nothing but stare at where she had exited his view. His mind ran through a million possibilities of what could be in that small bag. While he was certain that a string bikini would not be appropriate attire for a restaurant, it didn't keep his mind from imagining her wearing one.

Realizing how deep he was getting himself into fantasy, Tom forced himself to turn back to the computer screen. He was going to keep his promise to himself and treat her right. Imagining her in sexual situations right before their date was not going to help his cause in any way.

When B'Elanna reentered the room less than five minutes later, his jaw almost dropped at how incredible she looked. The slim black pants were tucked into her boots and topped with a plain green sweeter. It was such a simple outfit, but it looked amazing. He quickly closed his console and crossed the room to join her.

"You look spectacular," Tom said reverently.

B'Elanna shook her head at his comments and unconsciously reached her hand up to touch her forehead.

Not willing to let her get away with brushing his complement off, Tom stepped even closer and covered the hand that was hiding her uniqueness from him with his own. "Your outfit is gorgeous," Tom stated. "But it is your beauty that truly makes you a stunning sight to behold."

Now B'Elanna was practically horrified at the blush she could feel heating her face.

Realizing that he was close to pushing her too much, Tom dropped his hand from where it was covering hers, letting it skim her skin from her ridges down her arm until he grasped her hand in his. He leaned down and placed a quick kiss on her ridges before using their clasped hands to lead her towards the turbolift and their date.

***

The next couple hours were spent in easy conversation. While they had been getting to know each other as friends over the last few weeks, there was still plenty for them to learn about each other. In addition to their conversation, the innuendos and flirting kept on coming on the walk to the restaurant and throughout dinner.

Both were aware that this was going to be a turning point in their relationship. Both were now sure that the attraction they felt was mutual and, after all the buildup during the evening, were hoping to finally do something about it. By the time they finished their dessert, both were eager to see where the rest of the night would lead them.

As they left the restaurant, Tom steered them towards the ocean. He took B'Elanna's hand as he led them to look out at the water. He brought them to the railing and turned to face her while she looked at the bay.

For a moment he was quiet as he looked at her hand in his as he gently moved his thumb over the back of her hand. Taking a deep breath, he finally looked up at her face and studied her expression. Uncertain what she was feeling, as she appeared to be quietly reflecting as he was, he debated for a moment whether to question her or not.

Deciding that the only way to really know was to ask, he broke the silence between them with a quiet question. "Have you had a good time tonight?"

The smile that quickly appeared on B'Elanna's face eased his worries even before she answered the question. She broke off her study of the ocean and turned to him to answer. "I've had a much better time than I imagined," she answered just as quietly, hesitant to break the calm of the night as well.

With a smile on his face, Tom pulled on the hand he still held and simultaneous reached out to grab her other hand. Gently he urged her to turn away from the water and face him. Once she was looking at him, he responded quietly, "So have I."

For another few moments they just looked at each other until Tom let go of the hand he had recently taken and instead reached his hand up to push her hair behind her ear. Instead of returning that hand to its previous position, he let it follow the line of her face until he was gently cupping the left side of her face. When she returned the gesture by leaning into his hand, he spoke. "I've enjoyed spending time with you and building our friendship."

At those words B'Elanna's expression seemed to fall a little bit until he quickly continued. "But I'm hoping that we are both interested in continuing to build on this and seeing where it can take us."

With that reassurance, B'Elanna relaxed and smiled. Looking into his eyes, she realized that this was the turning point, the time to let him know that she really did want to see where they could go. His eyes seemed to be splitting their focus between her and a few inches lower down. She realized that after the way she stopped him at the transport station on Sunday, he was probably waiting to see if she was going to stop him again.

Taking a deep breath, B'Elanna decided that she might as well let him know that she was all in. She took the hand that he wasn't holding and brought it up to his face in a mirror of how he held hers. As soon as she touched his skin, he was in motion. Slowly, giving her plenty of time to react, he brought his head down until his lips were a breath away from hers; keeping his eyes on her the whole time to make sure she wanted it.

Seeing only acceptance and desire, Tom closed his eyes as their lips touched for the first time. As he moved to pull back after that first kiss to check her reaction, her hand moved from his face into his hair preventing the movement and anchoring his lips to hers.

Any fear by either of them that they wouldn't have sexual chemistry was instantly eliminated as they kissed. From the first brush of their lips together, they seemed to be in sync. To start with, it was just a gentle kiss, testing the waters of what each would allow.

However, that didn't last long as the draw that they had both felt for the other came into play and it stopped being quite so chaste. It started with Tom gently sucking on that bottom lip that had teased him since he first laid eyes on her. Then B'Elanna realized that if this was going to go any further, he needed to be able to deal with all of her traits and so she reciprocated his attention to his bottom lip except, instead of sucking, she used her teeth. Then the groan that came out of him emboldened her to add her tongue into the ongoing lip caress.

When Tom's tongue came out to play, the balance of the kiss shifted into his direction as this time a moan came from B'Elanna. Once again, in sync they shifted and deepened the kiss, using soft caressing hands assist in wringing further sounds from each other. Dominance was passed back and forth without hesitation as each took the lead momentarily to see how many sounds of pleasure they could coax out of the other.

Surprisingly, neither forgot their public location. While their mouths were certainly not keeping things chaste, their wandering hands stayed above their waists and away from any places not considered acceptable to display in polite company.

Eventually both pulled back a little, slowing to chaste kisses once again. As they returned to reality, they realized that they had shifted positions against the railing. Instead of the bay being off to the side, B'Elanna had backed Tom into the railing and moved between his legs. With Tom leaning on the railing, he was able to move his feet away from the railing and bring himself down towards her level. Without realizing it they had lined everything up to take things further. Upon that realization, both pulled back a little.

Tom's nerves hit and he pulled himself into a more upright position. Aligning all his parts with hers would not end this night in a good place for a first date to end. Of course, as caught up as she was in the moment, B'Elanna's face dropped when she realized his new movements.

To ease the new tension, Tom said "It's getting late and if I'm going to make it to work on time tomorrow and not piss off my boss; I need to get some sleep."

For a moment B'Elanna just looked at him, not understanding why he would be pulling away, until she realized that he was only taking a step back tonight, not from her. "You're right," she responded. "You have a hard enough time paying attention and contributing when you do have your beauty sleep."

With a sarcastic smirk clearly showing on his face, Tom teased back. "So what's your excuse?"

The smack B'Elanna laid into his chest for his comment quickly turned into a caress. Certain that his control would soon fail, Tom took that hand into his and gently led her towards the street so they could catch a transport.

For a few minutes they walked in a comfortable silence while Tom contemplated if it was the right thing to ask her to join him for a date on the weekend. His wanted to have her over for dinner at his place but he wanted to make sure she was comfortable with him and not try to push things too far. While he certainly wouldn't be opposed to her spending the weekend at his place, he definitely wasn't going to expect it. Finally, as the silence began to drag on a little long, he decided to just throw the idea out there and see what she said.

"I would like to make you dinner at my place sometime this weekend?" Tom said with a smile as he moved to walk backwards in front of her so he could see her face. He was rewarded with shock and a little panic even as she grabbed his other hand and quickly looked up at him, which scared him. What had he done to scare her off now? The way she held his hands certainly didn't seem to fit with his scaring her off by moving too fast with bringing her to his place theory.

"So we'll be joining your parents?" B'Elanna finally responded hesitantly.

Tom took a calming breath as he realized the source of the fear. It wasn't him, but the dreaded meet the parents that she must be worried about. "No," he answered quickly. "My dad has a reception somewhere in Europe Saturday night, so he's taking my mom and making a weekend of it. They're not used to having someone else living in their house and I think they want a little time away."

"I can understand that," B'Elanna said with a much calmer demeanor. With an almost shy smile she answered his request. "I'd love to join you for dinner." Then a wicked smirk appeared on her face before she continued, "After all, who would want you hanging around all the time?"

"Says the woman who just agreed to another dinner with me," Tom replied with a big smile of his own as he turned and started leading them down the street again.

Again the conversation flowed as they continued to her place. B'Elanna questioned him as to why he was taking her home, but couldn't really argue with his response. "A gentleman always sees his date safely to her door." She decided that it was nice to be taken care of for once.

Also on their walk they came to an agreement that he would have her over for dinner on Friday night. Both were eager to get together again quickly, since it had been a long three days waiting for this date.

All too soon, they reached the front steps of her building. Tom brought her into his arms for a hug and a quick, chaste kiss.

"Do you want to come in for a drink?" B'Elanna asked with a smile.

Tom looked at her for a moment before answering, "I think I probably should get going. I have quite the taskmaster waiting for me tomorrow morning at work."

"Oh," B'Elanna answered, and then turned toward her door. "Good night."

Tom immediately realized that she though he didn't want her and grabbed her arm before she could fully turn away. "I don't want to leave, but…"

B'Elanna turned back to him and looked into his eyes. Quietly she answered his unspoken thought, "You're right. As much as I'd love to take you inside, we both know where that would lead."

Tom took his other hand and laid it gently on the side of her face before saying, "I would love to take you inside and show you how I feel, but I want to do this right. You deserve to be treated right and cherished, neither of which would be shown if we sleep together tonight."

Tom bent down and gave her another chaste kiss before continuing. "I need you to trust that I want you, not just to sleep with you. Once you know that," Tom stopped for a moment before winking at her and stepping away. "I'll make you fly."

With a grin, B'Elanna shook her head at him before triggering the outer door sensor and backing into her apartment building. As she was stepping into the building she got in one final comment, "Good night, pig."

Sporting a grin of his own, Tom knew that she understood that he wasn't rejecting her. Deciding to finish the night off with a laugh, he said his own goodbyes as he started backing away from the door. "Oink, oink B'Elanna."

B'Elanna's laugh could be heard, even after the door closed and Tom was certain that if he tried to smile anymore his face would split in two from the wide grin he was wearing.

* * *

_**I hope this lived up to the 19 chapter wait for their first kiss. **_

**_Unfortunately I only have a few paragraphs started on the next chapter so it may be another 4-6 weeks before I can post again. I'll try my best, but I've got about a dozen hurdles to jump through in the next few weeks for enrolling in the new program let alone the million other things going on in RL. _**

**_We are winding down in the story. We have, depending on if I feel I can do a good job of adding in that extra 'surprise' I talked about earlier, between 2 -6 chapters left in this story. I'm sad to see this finishing up, but I'm also excited to finally be able to head toward that happily ever after point. Thanks for sticking with me this far!_**


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun.

_**Thanks to starrylaa for her beta**_

* * *

Chapter 20

By Thursday afternoon, some of the engineers on the project were interested in collecting on their bets. While the change between B'Elanna and Tom had been subtle, there definitely was additional familiarity between them, even if it was expressed by purposeful distance rather than constant touching.

Since Lieutenant Kim was in charge of the betting pool, once the two subjects disappeared along with Lieutenants Carey and Nicolette into the Holodeck for another simulation, he found himself cornered by the greedy gamblers.

"No winners without confirmation," Harry said.

"But…" came the plea from a few of those surrounding them.

"The Commander and the Chief Pilot have not engaged in sexual relations," Seven stated as she stalked over to join the group.

Harry turned to her in shock before finding his voice and asking, "How do you know?"

"The level of touching between the two has increased at a steady rate since Monday," Seven started explaining. "However, it remains confined to arms and shoulders which does not indicate familiarity with each other's bodies. Additionally, the amount of time spent looking at each other has actually decreased as the week has gone on, especially today. They have been forcing themselves to not look at the other, indicating an additional level of attraction. I believe they went out on a date last night and but it did not include the removal of clothes."

"All of that from some looks and touching?" Harry questioned.

"Admiral Janeway requested that I study the Starfleet databases on human interaction," Seven replied. "Combined with my study of relationships on Voyager, it is a simple matter to understand where a relationship has progressed physically. For example, your relationship with Libby…"

"Thank you Seven," Harry said, cutting her off. "I happen to agree with your…" he paused for a moment to come up with the right term, "analysis and will not be paying on any bets at this time."

The grumbling crowd returned to work, eventually turning to other subjects. No one really wanted to be caught by the pair in question when they finally finished up their latest test on the Holodeck. Many of them were there the last time Seven engaged in her study of relationships, which had included B'Elanna as one of its subjects. The resulting disagreement had required the Captain to intercede and force an apology from Seven to B'Elanna. No one really wanted to have to explain that it was their fault the Admiral had to be called down to calm down the head of the project.

*****

Meanwhile, on the Holodeck, the pair in question were valiantly attempting to ignore the urge to touch each other while they were working. If they had been at their stations on the bridge simulation, it would not have been a problem as they were several feet apart. However, the simulation they were running had not worked as well as they had hoped and the pair, as well as Lieutenants Carey and Nicolette were gathered together looking at the monitors trying to figure out what went so drastically wrong.

At first they had avoided the issue by making sure the other two were standing in the middle, therefore separating themselves by a couple feet. But then, in a show of how they seemed to be operating on the same wave link, they came up with an idea at almost the same time and practically finished each other's sentences while explaining it. In order to understand the issue, the two lieutenants stepped aside to try to catch up while Tom and B'Elanna stayed at the current console to delve deeper into the problem.

Suddenly the couple of feet separating them became a couple inches as they both moved to better positions to observe the subsequent data. They were so keyed up that they could almost feel the chemistry between them like a spark between two charged conductors.

For about fifteen minutes they were fine, working in tandem and getting to the root of the problem. But then disaster struck and Tom accidently reached for the same part of the console for an adjustment a second after B'Elanna made the same move. The moment their hands touched, suddenly coaxial warp drive problems seemed to disappear.

Luckily they both realized there was an audience in the room and didn't turn and jump each other as soon as that spark turned into a flame. Instead they froze and stared in each other's faces trying to figure out what the other would do.

For a moment, it appeared like Tom was going to move forward and do something she would have killed him for doing at work. But then he realized that a move towards that would certainly destroy all he had been working toward for the last few weeks. Instead he simply brushed his hand against hers one move time before taking a step back and desperately wracking his brain for a reason to move to another console.

"I believe that the navigation control must have been affected by this latest modification," Tom said slowly as he frantically devised his solution to making some more room between them.

B'Elanna took a moment to catch up with his plan, first fearing that he didn't want to be near her before quickly looking around the room and realizing they had an audience who were attempting, very badly, to appear to ignore her and Tom's interaction. Then she noticed the panic in Tom's eyes as he started his excuse and realized he needed some help making a getaway.

"You're right," B'Elanna responded, also frantically searching for how to get him to another console. Luckily, however, she pratically dreamed about engine interactions and was able to continue with only a momentary pause. "There was a two percent drop in power to navigation control during the test which shows no other explanation. Perhaps you can take a look and see if it was damaged from the modification itself or from the flight."

"I'll do that right away," Tom answered as he carefully controlled his walk toward the other console to not show how much he was trying to get away from her.

It was all that Carey and Nicolette could do to avoid laughing out loud and notifying the uncomfortable couple that their ploy had been transparent. While doing their work they quietly discussed how much they would say when questioned later by the rest of the team. Since both had this weekend picked in the pool, they decided to deny that anything out of the ordinary had happened to keep the rest of the team from changing to what they were now sure was a winning bet.

The four were finally at a stopping point on their simulation review at a few minutes to quitting time. Rather than try to stay late and invite even more suspicion as to their relationship, Tom decided it would be a good idea to get out of there for the day. As they left the Holodeck, Tom followed B'Elanna back to one of the workstations, which happened to be near the center of the main work area.

Tom entered some final notes on the PADD he had been working on before capturing her attention. "If you don't mind, Chief," Tom said, making sure to keep his voice quiet enough to seem like he wasn't trying to allow the whole room to hear their conversation. "I'd like to get out of here for the night."

He handed B'Elanna the PADD before continuing. "I think these notes cover everything I can contribute from the last simulation."

B'Elanna grabbed the PADD he handed to her and gave it a quick glance before appearing to scroll through a few pieces of data, when actually she was erasing his last note that said 'I'll give you a call in a couple hours.'

"That's fine," B'Elanna replied. "I've got a couple of hours of engineering work before we need a pilot again."

With that dismissal she purposely turned her attention to the rest of the team and continued, "We've still got a few unanswered questions as to why this simulation caused so much damage. We've looked at the obvious, now I need some suggestions for where we go next."

An hour and a half later, B'Elanna was sifting through the suggestions that the team had made before heading out for the evening. She was alone in her office, enjoying the quiet that was allowing her to make some progress in wading through the pile. But suddenly she hit a wall and couldn't process work anymore. One glance at the time and she quickly realized why. It was starting to approach the time that Tom had promised to call her. A thrill of anticipation jumped through her and abruptly she realized that the work would still be there tomorrow.

With a final click she closed out her screens and started packing up for the day. On her way out she picked up a PADD to take home with her so that she didn't feel like she was completely abandoning her job. Then, without a backward glance, she headed to the turbolift so that she could be home for the call from her boyfriend.

Of course, when the word boyfriend came into her mind, she was stepping out of the turbolift on the ground floor and, much to her disbelief, her heel caught on the gap in the floor where the doors open. She quickly recovered her balance, but the shock of so casually referring to Tom as her boyfriend captured her attention the whole walk home. What surprised her most wasn't that she had used that term for him, but that it didn't send a jolt of fear through her, which had always been her reaction to the term in the past. In fact, it seemed natural to refer to him in that way.

She examined her feelings as she walked home. Yes, she was wildly attracted to him physically, but that wasn't all. There was an intellectual attraction as well. He wasn't looking to try out the Klingon, but to get to know who she was, both human and Klingon.

As she entered her own building, she almost tripped again as she finally realized why it felt right to call him her boyfriend. She trusted him. She realized that he wouldn't, as so many had done before, intentionally hurt her. Sure, they wouldn't always agree and sometimes they would get pissed at each other. Of course with that thought her mind took a quick trip into the gutter to imagine the make-up sex that would result. Shaking her head, she moved on with her realization. She wasn't in love with him, but she was certainly enjoying the falling part that she was in now.

For his part, Tom was getting anxious as he waited for the two hours to pass since he left work. He knew that he would be making himself vulnerable by contacting her so quickly, but he couldn't bring himself to be worried. He knew, even though it was so very soon, that he had fallen in love with her. He had come to the realization as he walked away from her door the previous night, replaying her laughter in his head at his teasing. At the time of his decision to leave, he hadn't realized why it was so important for him to not go in with her. He thought it was just about showing her he wasn't the same man he was the last time he had seen her. On the walk home he realized that reason was actually secondary. He had been telling her the absolute truth in that he needed to wait for her to trust him.

He knew it might be a while before he earned her trust. After all, even in the Maquis, when she refused to date any of their colleagues, there were bets going on as to who could bag the Klingon first. That, combined with his own behavior in the Maquis guaranteed that she wouldn't trust him in physical intimacy for a while. He was prepared to wait as long as necessary, but he hoped that they might be able to push a boundary or two on their next date. The fact that she was even willing to come to his place seemed to reassure him that she trusted him to not push her too far. It was only a matter of time before that trust extended further.

"Thanks for calling," B'Elanna said as she received Tom's incoming transmission.

"I did promise," Tom said in response. "And I do like to keep my promises."

"Oh really," B'Elanna responded.

Tom had to work very hard to keep his face from showing his surprise at the almost purr that her voice had made with those words. Curious if he was simply hearing things he decided to push the envelope and flirt right back.

"I promised I'd be a good boy at work," Tom said, "And I have. So do I get a prize?"

"You get to cook me dinner tomorrow," B'Elanna answered.

"Anything special you'd like," Tom asked.

"Not really," B'Elanna said. "But I'd like to spend some time out on your deck. The view was beautiful."

"The weather should be good," Tom answered. "We can eat out at the table and enjoy the view."

"Sounds great," B'Elanna replied. "Anything you'd like me to bring?"

"Yourself," Tom answered with a smile. "And if you want to get out of your uniform, you…"

B'Elanna cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "Pretty certain of yourself aren't you?"

For a moment Tom just stared at her and tried to figure out if she was joking or not. Deciding that she didn't appear ready to attack him he decided to try having a little fun with her. "I was going to tell you to bring some casual clothes, but if you seem to think you need something to wear to bed, by all means bring it."

"Who says I'd wear anything to bed?"

Tom tried desperately to avoid having his jaw drop open in shock at her reply, but could not manage to prevent it. But B'Elanna's answering smirk shook him out of it quickly as he then sent her a leer of his own. He also made a mental note, as he and B'Elanna moved on to other topics of conversation, to make absolutely certain his parents weren't coming home until Sunday. The last thing he needed was to do was embarrass B'Elanna by having to introduce her as his girlfriend to them first thing in the morning.

* * *

_**Thanks again for putting up with the wait. **_

_**My beta, as well as some of the readers are getting antsy about dragging the relationship out. I promise that next chapter will finally resolve some of that darn sexual tension between our favorite couple. I had planned it for this chapter, but RL has kept me from writing the chapter as it deserves to be written. I'm not going to make promises about posting within a timeframe, but I will send out within the next month a special teaser to anyone who reviews or PM's me requesting one.**_

**_What I can tell you is that I have the rest of the story mapped out. There are two more chapters and an epilogue that is set a year later. Not as much as I had hoped, but if RL calms down and I get inspired, I can always do a sequel with the missing time period._**


	21. Chapter 21

A/N - Um... I am sorry this has taken so long. I have more to say in a note at the bottom but I want to make sure to state before you read this chapter that this story is fully written. I expect to post the final chapter and an short epilogue over the next two weeks.

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun.

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 21

Finally, Tom and B'Elanna were the only ones remaining in the lab on Friday evening. Of course, B'Elanna was busy trying not to notice this fact as she threw herself into yet another simulation review in her office. She wasn't quite willing to admit to herself that it was her a third run through due to the fact she had been distracted by that very detail on the previous two attempts.

This time she was finally able to succeed in concentrating on her work. Unfortunately for her nerves, this allowed Tom to quietly enter her office and step behind her just before she finished the latest run. As the last data flowed onto the screen, she suddenly became aware of two hands resting on the edge of the console on either side of her. While she was able to control the shriek that wanted to come out at the encircled position she found herself in, she was not able to stop the instinctual jump as she turned her head to discover Tom right behind her.

She almost gave in to her instinct and pulled him in for a kiss until she saw the grin he had on his face. She wasn't about to let that one go. "Back off, flyboy."

"Or what?" Tom questioned.

Her response was a quick, hard slap to his chest, to which he desperately held back his own instinct to yelp in pain. He figured that showing a Klingon weakness at such a minor ache would not be very conducive to a long term relationship. While he wasn't with her in an effort to 'bag a Klingon' that didn't mean that he was oblivious to the fact that if their relationship progressed it would not always be slow and gentle.

"I thought you didn't want to start anything at work, but I guess it's okay if you started it," Tom responded while leaning down and positioning himself to give her a kiss.

B'Elanna turned her head to the side so that he only kissed her cheek before standing up, putting both hands on his chest and giving a good push to force him a few steps back.

"If you want to lead that's fine with me to," Tom said with a huge grin, leaning against the wall casually since her shove had put him with his back against it in the small office.

He also wasn't able to stifle his laughter as she growled and stalked past him to the corner of her office where she had stashed her bag. Luckily his clothing was loose so his other reaction to her growling wasn't very noticeable.

"You coming," B'Elanna asked as she headed toward the turbolift.

"That would be completely up to you," Tom said with a smirk as he followed her across the room.

"Just get your cocky ass over here," B'Elanna responded, shaking her head a little as soon as the words left her mouth as she realized the innuendo she unintentionally came up with. "I'm hungry," followed by another head shake before continuing, "I'd like to eat some dinner so get moving."

Tom quickly crossed to the turbolift while carefully schooling his face into his most innocent look. As he entered the lift, he purposefully maintained a couple feet of space between them before snapping to a cadet perfect parade rest and sarcastically answered, "Yes, ma'am."

B'Elanna was also schooling her features to try to present a bland mask. She was pretty sure her lips twitched a little toward a smirk, but she was pretty proud of herself for not outright laughing at him and his problem. When she stalked out of the room earlier her hip had brushed against Tom and she had a pretty good idea of how much he was enjoying their banter. In the past, she wouldn't have cared for the way he had been teasing and baiting her, but considering she was just as worked up as he appeared to be, she figured she didn't have a whole lot of room to complain.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't even realize that the turbolift had stopped. It took his movement beside her before she realized that he was stepping out. As she started her own departure, she realized that his hand was right beside hers and she impulsively reached out and joined it with her own.

Tom almost jumped for joy at this simple act. While they had done a lot of teasing back and forth, and she had even invited him into her house the other day, this was the first real physical connection she had initiated. Not wanting to give her any doubt about her gesture, he quickly intertwined his fingers with hers and once they had exited the building, brought her hand to his mouth to give it a gentle kiss before continuing on to the transport station. Sure they could walk to his place, but this would save about fifteen minutes and he was in a hurry to get them someplace that he could give the woman he hoped he would soon officially call his girlfriend a proper kiss.

The rest of the trip home consisted of small talk between them as both of their minds raced though the implications of what was happening between them. For Tom, it was the first time he acknowledged that, even though they had only been dating a short time, he had fallen in love with her. But more shocking was that B'Elanna was having the same thoughts.

Everything was so simple between them. They could not only talk about almost anything, but their senses of humor complemented each other. And even more important for B'Elanna, he was more than willing to meet her temper. Sure he hadn't seen the full extent yet, but he certainly seemed eager to try with all his attempts at riling her up. And with the encounter while kickboxing she knew that he wouldn't back down when she directed it at him.

As they walked up the front steps of his house, Tom started to get a little nervous. He knew where he would love things to end this evening, but as he told her on their last date he was willing to wait as long as she needed. As much as he wanted to take her inside and kiss her properly, would she take that the wrong way? And before he could make a decision, the door was opening and they were stepping inside.

Despite the fact that she had been there before, B'Elanna was still in awe of the beautiful house he grew up in. It was so different than where she grew up, but still warm and welcoming enough that it didn't make her feel too out of place. But that welcoming feeling didn't help her in finding a place to get out of her uniform. Right now she wanted no reminders that they worked together and decided to tease him a little.

Before the front door was even completely shut B'Elanna turned to Tom and asked, "So where can I go get out of this uniform?"

After his heart restarted from pure shock at the innuendo lacing her comment, Tom took a deep breath before answering. "There is a guest room right down this hallway," he managed to say somewhat calmly as he pointed in the right direction.

Emboldened by his reaction, B'Elanna decided to goad him as he had done to her at work. "But I was looking forward to looking at those etchings without you around."

"Oh really," Tom replied once he was able to process thoughts once again. "At the top of the stairs, first door on the right you'll find my room. I don't have any etchings, but I do have a couple of starship cross-sections decorating the walls."

Stepping much closer to her as she started up the steps he gave her a smirk and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her. Leaning toward her he spoke almost directly into her ear, "I could give you a private tour if you'd like."

B'Elanna stopped a couple steps above Tom and turned back towards him. Enjoying the fact that she was actually taller than him for once she looked down the couple inches between them with a smirk of her own before answering, "Maybe later."

Taking advantage of her playful mood, Tom decided she wouldn't be opposed to at least a quick kiss. Bringing one hand to her face he tilted her head down toward his and brought her lips to his own for what he intended to be a quick kiss.

As soon as they touched that idea flow out the window. His other hand quickly found itself resting on her waist while B'Elanna's hand found their way into his hair.

Out of breath they both managed to pull back after a few minutes of indulging the chemistry between themselves. With a last brush of his hand against her face Tom took a step backwards and spoke before he turned to the kitchen to get the promised dinner ready. "Don't think I won't hold you to that offer."

It took B'Elanna a few minutes more than she had planned to finish changing. She had decided to change in his room on impulse, primarily to tease him. But now that she was up there she took the time to look around and see if she could figure out more about Tom Paris. Prior to the last few weeks she would have sworn he would have pictures of half naked women up on his walls, but now she knew that at least some of his reputation was simply armor, just like she used her Klingon side to keep people at a distance. Instead she admired the variety and detail on the various pictures and models displayed in his room. Many were obviously more than a few weeks old, showing that his interest in more than just piloting predated his sojourn in prison.

Realizing she was taking a little too long, B'Elanna quickly turned to the task she came upstairs for. Rather than a dress as she had first considered wearing for this date, she pulled out the pants and sweater she ended up settling on. However, in concession to wanting something feminine she had stopped on the way home the previous day and picked out a new sweater, a flattering maroon wrap style. It made her feel sexy and deserving of the heated looks that Tom had been sending her way since they began their flirtations.

Quickly dressing, B'Elanna folded her discarded uniform and put it into the small bag, next to a few extra things she had brought just in case. She knew that, despite the fact that he invited her to his house, Tom had no expectations for the evening. She wondered if he realized that specific fact had actually convinced her to make sure she brought those extra items.

After a moment of contemplation B'Elanna decided to leave the bag in Tom's room. It would only take a moment to retrieve later if she actually decided to leave after dinner, but would show Tom that she was ready for them to move forward in their relationship.

The fragrance as she came down the stairs was mouthwatering. She followed her nose into the kitchen where Tom had set up for their dinner at the smaller kitchen table. It was a simple, yet elegant setup. Tom knew exactly how to impress her, simple place settings and a pair of candles to light the table showed romance without being overdone.

"Just another minute to finish cooking and we'll be ready to eat," Tom said without turning from where he was working at the stove. "Some of the ingredients are replicated, but it tastes better to do the final cooking myself rather than replicating it complete. For as good as replicators are they," Tom's voice trailed off as he took the skillet off the stove and turned toward B'Elanna.

"You look beautiful," Tom said quietly once he was able to get his voice back.

Usually B'Elanna would have ignored or pushed aside a compliment like Tom just paid her, believing them a lie or an exaggeration, but the look on Tom's face told her that he sincerely believed it. Praying that her face wouldn't betray her and heat up with the embarrassment she felt, B'Elanna answered just as quietly. "Thank you."

Turning back to the counter for a second, Tom portioned out the contents of the skillet over the pasta already laid out before picking the two plates up and bringing them to the table. "I hope you don't mind that I didn't prepare any appetizers or salads. Since I wanted to cook this myself, it wouldn't have been as good if it had to sit for a while."

"It smells delicious and no I don't mind at all," B'Elanna said as he placed the dishes on the table. She went to take her seat, but Tom quickly stepped behind her to help her with her chair.

Tom took his seat across from her and picked up his wine glass. "If you don't mind, I'd like to make a toast first."

Smiling at his gentlemanly actions, B'Elanna answered, "Of course."

"To long journeys, making new friends and exploring new possibilities."

B'Elanna's smile grew bigger as she touched her glass to Tom's and took a drink, never taking her eyes off of his.

The dinner conversation was comfortable and enlightening as they both took the opportunity to share a little more about themselves and learn more about the other. It was punctuated by sounds of appreciation for the delicious meal they were partaking. Both enjoyed the moans and groans of satisfaction coming out of the other's mouth. While they currently signaled an enjoyment of the food, both hoped to hear them again in appreciation of other, more intimate pursuits.

At last they were both satiated with food. Tom poured them both a second glass of wine before standing and offering his hand to B'Elanna. "Would you like to head outside for a little while? It is a little windy this evening, but there should be a blanket out there to keep us warm."

"That sounds wonderful," B'Elanna replied as she used his offered hand to help her stand. "Do you need help cleaning up before we head out?"

"It can wait until later," Tom answered as he turned to the table and blew out the candles. Using the hand he was already holding, he pulled her closer before leaning down to kiss her. "Right now I'd rather spend my time with you."

Both of them pulled back before the kiss got too heated and walked toward the door, holding hands with their wine glasses in the other. Only when they reached the door to the outside did Tom finally let go so that he had a free hand to open it. Once that was done, he wrapped his arm around her and lead her over to a swing with a blanket laying on it.

Settling into the swing, he again put his arm around her and she leaned into his shoulder, comfortably tucked into his body. They sat there quietly sipping their wine for a few minutes as Tom worked up the courage to figure out where they were. He wanted to, as high school as it sounded, ask her to be his girlfriend.

Breaking the silence Tom asked, "So where are we going?"

"Now, or us together?" B'Elanna said as she turned to leer up at him.

With a grin and a quick kiss, Tom replied, "Both, but let's work on the second part first."

"But the first part is so much more interesting," B'Elanna said as she sat up a little and gave him a deeper kiss.

Reluctantly breaking away, Tom pulled back a little so that they faced each other before responding. "You know I'm looking for more than just a physical relationship with you and if we jump straight into that, I'm worried that's all we'll ever have. I know I'm looking at this as the start of something that will hopefully last a long time and build on the foundation we've been making in our friendship. I guess I'm asking if you are looking for the same thing."

B'Elanna stared out at the view for a minute after he stopped talking. As much as she had internally come to accept exactly what he was discussing and in fact hoped for it, agreeing with him would make it more than just a fantasy or dream. Was she really ready to place that trust in him?

Turning back to look at him, she studied his face and the look in his eyes before deciding that he had many of the same feelings as her. Just as she felt abandoned by her parents growing up, he felt the same when his Starfleet career imploded. While he had more long term relationships, he had admitted that he had very little in common besides physical attraction with them, which is all that her previous relationships consisted of. And right now, she could see the same friendship and attraction as she felt reflected in his face. If she looked hard enough, she was pretty sure she was seeing the growing love she was discovering for him echoing back at her.

Taking a deep breath, she realized that she felt hope for the future, mixed with a little fear of the unknown. But then again, after six years lost in the Delta Quadrant, fear of the unknown was something she was well versed in living with and turning into an excitement for something new.

Making her decision, B'Elanna smiled as she reached up and placed her hand along his jaw. With just that simple gesture she could see the happiness overtake much of the fear in Tom's eyes. What seemed like seconds for her to make her decision must have seemed like an eternity to him.

"I am looking for everything," B'Elanna said, deciding his honesty deserved a complete answer, she didn't stop there. "I've enjoyed getting to know you, not just the images you choose to show the outside world. You are intelligent, talented, caring and probably most important; appear to enjoy putting up with my temper."

The both laughed a little at that before B'Elanna continued. "You are in many ways exactly what I didn't realize I was looking for and that scares me. This isn't just about sex or friendship and that will give you the power to hurt me. Finding out about what the Dominion did to the Maquis nearly broke me. If we start this," B'Elanna broke off at that point, dropping her hand into her lap and returned to studying the view.

Tom didn't give her long to think about what she admitted before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her back into his body. "Will it help to say I know exactly how you feel?"

Feeling her relax slightly at his words, Tom continued. "I'd like to be able to tell you we'll never disagree, but we both know that would be a lie. What I can tell you is that I will never knowingly hurt you. I am just as invested in this as you. To attempt to step away at this point would probably break my heart, and I know it is the last thing I want to do."

As B'Elanna reached both hands up and pulled his fact to hers, Tom realized he must have said the right thing. Any remaining thoughts quickly fled his mind as she kissed him. He had thought their previous kisses had been amazing, but they had nothing on this one.

Within moments of starting the kiss both of them realized that unless they wanted to provide the neighbors with a show, privacy would be a necessity. While Tom tried to move back, B'Elanna knew it was time to show that his words had been the push she needed to realize that taking this risk was worth it.

As Tom pulled his head back she followed, nibbling along his jaw line before whispering in his ear, "I think I'm ready for that private tour now."

Again Tom moved backwards, but this time to be able to look into B'Elanna's eyes. The worry was gone, replaced with desire and determination. Taking her face back into his hands, he leaned back down from one more deep kiss before pulling them both off the swing, never letting her out of his arms. Pulling her flush with his body he copied her earlier actions, whispering "I'm ready whenever you are," into her ear.

The blanket was discarded on the floor, the door slammed shut as they went through it and a few pieces of furniture were pushed out of their way as they stumbled to the stairs. All previous boundaries for their hands were discarded, though no clothes had been divested by the time they reached the bottom stair.

At that point Tom's shirt went flying as they started to climb. When they stumbled on the stairs while he tried to return the favor, B'Elanna pulled off her sweater, tossed it to him and ran up the stairs, yelling "catch me if you can," to him as he was momentarily dazed by the wonders uncovered by her actions.

Her lead was short lived as his longer legs quickly scaled the stairs and he grabbed her just as they reached the second floor. Using his momentum against him, she turned them sideways, tipping him off balance so his back hit the wall. Quickly turning in his capturing arms, she pulled his head down for another deep kiss.

Tom quickly surrendered to her instead focusing his attention on exploring the skin now available to his wandering hands. B'Elanna did the same, but soon continued to divest him of his clothes. He tried to stop her for a moment, pulling back enough to be able to talk. "You realize I have a really comfortable bed just inside that door."

Glancing the three feet to the referenced doorway B'Elanna responded, "Maybe next time. I need you right here, right now."

Rather than verbalize his acceptance, Tom turned the tables by turning them around and trapping B'Elanna against the wall. His hands quickly mimicked her actions, indicating he was just as ready as her to finally move forward in their relationship. Neither of them said another word for quite a while, only repeating the moans and groans made during dinner, though much louder and more enthusiastically.

* * *

A/N - Thank you to everyone who wrote me kind notes over the last 14 1/2 months. Seeing that people were still reading my little story gave me the drive to finish it. Part of the reason it has taken so long is that I'm finally getting a few weeks off from my graduate program so I have had time to focus on something besides my coursework and life commitments. My number one priority when I finished my summer classes was to get this finished and posted, and I'm excited to see if you enjoy what I've done. I am especially looking forward to the reaction to the first section of next chapter which was written very early on in the story and acted as my guide for where our pair needed to go.

Again, thank you for sticking with me and for your encouragement. I've had a tough year or so and every time I got a review alert it brought a smile to my face, no matter how long the day had been.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters for fun.

* * *

Starting Over – Chapter 22

As dawn broke outside, only one of the current occupants of the bed was asleep. The other was slowly waking up and enjoying the feeling of warmth emanating from the body tangled with theirs. For a few minutes, they simply enjoyed the closeness and the enjoyable memories washing over them from the previous night. But soon the memories weren't enough and they decided that cuddling wasn't sufficient so they started caressing the neighboring body with hands and lips in order to stimulate them into joining the land of the living again.

"Again, don't you ever get enough," were the sleepy words from underneath the blankets.

"You weren't saying that last night," was the response murmured as lips moved from ears to jaw and back.

"I wasn't the one who started the last round," was the reply as hands started to caress despite the protests being lodged.

"You were the one who wanted to have a Klingon girlfriend," B'Elanna said as she proceeded to bite down on his collarbone.

"Ouch," Tom said as he finally woke up completely. Deciding that he wasn't about to let her have the upper hand this morning, he quickly turned the tables on her as he flipped them over and started exploring as she had been doing. "One of these bites is going to draw blood you know."

"We'll get to that," B'Elanna answered with a growl.

Since he very much enjoyed the erotic effects of the bites, let alone the shiver that shot through him when she growled he only had one response as he attacked her with vigor, "I can't wait."

Much later, after a nap, they awoke much less dramatically. This time, B'Elanna was the one who came back into awareness with caresses from a lover. But unlike her earlier attack, his was meant to signal closeness, not inflame. The gentle pressure of his hand rubbing back and forth down her arm as she lay with her head on his chest was so different than what she expected. She knew there was heat between them, but she had always found heat in sex. That was what all her partners had expected when they bedded a half-Klingon. But this comfort and closeness wasn't what she was used to. But she found herself returning the gesture softly with her own fingers on his stomach.

"Good afternoon," Tom murmured quietly.

"What," came B'Elanna's alarmed response as she tried to lift her head up.

Tom gently held onto her shoulder, keeping her from rising for the moment. "It's just after noon," he said. "We missed our morning run today."

Deciding to relax and enjoy the moment, B'Elanna settled in closer to him and responded, "That's okay. After all, it's not like we didn't get plenty of exercise last night."

"If that's what you're concerned about," Tom replied with a grin, "I'm sure we can find some way to ensure we are properly working all our muscle groups."

With a laugh, Tom jumped out from under her and scooted all the way across the bed to avoid the threat offered by her slapping hands. "How about we work on something else today? Have you had a chance to wander the city since you've been back?"

"I've never really looked around San Francisco, even back in my Academy days," B'Elanna replied as she stopped trying to hit him. She looked at him for a moment before her smile seemed to falter and she continued, "However, there is one errand we probably need to take care of sooner rather than later."

Tom looked at her curiously, a little concerned at the change in her mood. Worried asked, "Where do we need to go?"

"We probably should have already talked to her, but especially with this new change in our relationship we need to see the Admiral," B'Elanna answered.

"Oh," was all that Tom said for a moment as he thought about it. "You won't get in trouble will you? Technically I report to the Admiral since I'm attached to the project as the pilot not an engineer, so you're not my supervisor."

"I know," B'Elanna responded with a sigh. "On Voyager it wouldn't have been a problem since we were so small and forbidding dating within a department would have been impossible. But I'm not exactly sure what Starfleet rules are."

"I believe it's allowed as long as you are not the direct supervisor," Tom said after a moment of thought. "That would be the one rule I never really worried about as I never tried to date someone I worked with while in Starfleet."

"No, you saved that for the Maquis," B'Elanna answered back with a laugh.

"Actually, I never dated the bridge crew or any of the other pilots," was Tom's reply.

"Only because they were all men," B'Elanna said with a shake of her head.

"Technicalities," Tom said as he rose and pulled on a pair of shorts. Turning back to the bed he handed B'Elanna a t-shirt from his dresser before continuing. "There is one more errand I'd like to do today."

Standing without putting the shirt on, B'Elanna asked, "And what would that be?"

"If you don't put that shirt on we won't be going anywhere," Tom said as his eyes roamed the figure he had taken great pleasure in exploring both last night and this morning.

As she slowly pulled the shirt over her head, he continued. "Don't worry; we have plenty of time for that later. That's actually what I want to take care of. It's been great staying here with my parents, but it's time to get my own place. I figure since you recently had to find one of your own, you could give me some suggestions."

B'Elanna grabbed her bag and headed into the attached bathroom, she turned to Tom just before closing the door. Leering at him she said, "I guess I should get cleaned up so we can head out. Are you coming?"

"Give me a few minutes and we both will," Tom replied with a laugh as he practically ran across the room to join her.

The crew was quiet as Tom walked in that morning. He looked around and realized that yet again they were trying very hard to look like they were working. However, just as every morning for the last few weeks everyone still had their attention focused on himself and B'Elanna, who was the only one ignoring his entrance and still working on her console.

Deciding that it would cause more of a stir if he varied from his normal routine, he went over to where Harry was working with B'Elanna and greeted them both. Quickly turning his attention to the data they were looking at he was able to join their discussion after only a minute of catch-up. Much more difficult than understanding their technical jargon was resisting the urge to give B'Elanna a good morning kiss or even just place his hand on her back. But they had both promised the Admiral to keep it professional while at work in return for her accepting their relationship so he kept his hands to himself. Actually she had been quiet pleased when they told her their news when they visited her over the weekend and was more than willing to file the necessary paperwork to ensure Starfleet didn't interfere.

It was less than twelve hours since he had left her at her place after dinner together to go home and tell his parents about the great little apartment he had found to move into the following weekend and he was already craving even an innocent touch. But knowing he would lose a limb if he followed through, Tom leaned on the console on the other side of Harry from her and settled for a quick smile when she looked over at him.

A few minutes later the last of the stragglers came in and another work week officially started. B'Elanna stepped away from their discussion and turned towards her staff to give out the day's assignments. While B'Elanna was delegating tasks, Tom took the opportunity to study the room. Not surprisingly a significant amount of everyone else's attention seemed to be split between himself and B'Elanna. Wondering who might have won the bet and how long it would be before they figured it out, Tom turned his attention back to his girlfriend as she assigned his task for the morning.

Only a few minutes later after a short discussion by the crew on the remaining tasks for the week, the impromptu meeting started to break up. As everyone started separating out into groups and discussing their assignments, one person remained steadfast in her observation of the new lovers. A moment later her voice rang out above the noise of the many conversations.

"The bet has been satisfied as the subjects have consummated their relationship."

The room grew silent as Seven finished her announcement. Almost as one, everyone turned to see the pair in question as they turned from the console they had been working on. While Tom had only a hint of laughter hiding behind a stone faced facade, B'Elanna didn't even try to hide her anger.

"What did you say?" B'Elanna growled at Seven.

Tom immediately stopped his laughter and desperately attempted to maintain his calm as his lust level rose through the roof. He would never have believed that a growl could be so sexy prior to his reintroduction to B'Elanna but now he was certainly was appreciating the appeal. Trying to ignore that reaction, he gave thanks that he didn't have to wear a Starfleet uniform and tried to visualize anything that would alleviate his problem before it became apparent even in his civilian clothes.

Meanwhile, Seven turned to B'Elanna and stood her ground against her furious stare. Everyone else in the room besides Seven and Tom had the normal reaction to B'Elanna and hurriedly scattered to pretend to engage in work activities. No one wanted to be subjected to her wrath.

"My words were comprehensible in both diction and meaning," Seven stated as she spoke to the angry Klingon slowly stalking towards her. "You and the civilian test pilot have finally engaged in a sexual relationship after a number of weeks of courtship. However, it appears that the human phrase, 'relieving the tension' does not apply to your copulation."

Anticipating B'Elanna's lunge at Seven, Tom stepped forward and wrapped his arms around B'Elanna from behind in an attempt to prevent the bloodshed that was about to commence. "Get off me," B'Elanna yelled as she struggled to break his tight hold. "I'm going to kill her."

"Now why would you do that," Tom asked. "I'm sure you can find some interesting task for her to perform that will not have security escorting you out of here."

Feeling her relax in his arms, Tom let go of B'Elanna and stepped in front of her so he could see her face and force her to focus on him for a moment. "Despite the problems on the Darwin, no one has had a chance to test the equipment on the other shuttles yet."

B'Elanna's glare slowly melted and turned into a truly evil grin as she turned her attention back to Seven. "I need every single Delta Quadrant installed part on the shuttles pulled and tested for tolerance. Since you appear to have enough time to stick your nose into things that are none of your business, you should have time to hand test them all."

"All parts have passed ship diagnostics," Seven replied. "An additional inspection is unnecessary."

"But all the diagnostics were modified in the Delta Quadrant and could have problems of their own," B'Elanna said as she worked to dispel the rest of her anger. "How soon can I get your report?"

With a look of contempt Seven responded, "It will take forty hours for one person to complete the task."

Looking around the room, B'Elanna zeroed in on the fact that Harry was trying a little too hard at appearing to work on the holographic code on the console in front of him. Remembering who was usually at fault on the various betting schemes on Voyager she decided that he needed to suffer a little too. "If it will take that long, Seven, you should get started. But I'll send you a little help to make it go by quicker. Harry, after you have deposited all the credits from the betting into my account, you can join Seven in the shuttle bay."

"Anyone else want to speculate on my personal life or can we get some work done around here?" B'Elanna asked as everyone continued to try and focus their attention anywhere but on her. Sharing a look with Tom, she realized that they had just officially declared themselves as the couple with their reactions to Seven's announcement, but for once she really didn't mind if they knew her personal business. She was pretty sure it would be against Admiral Janeway's professionalism rules to leave a bite mark on his face, but the Klingon in her wanted to stake an undisputable claim that everyone could see on the man she was fast realizing was her mate. Seeing the gleam in Tom's eyes, she knew he probably felt the exact same way.

* * *

Only a very short epilogue set 10 months in the future remains. Thank you for your kind reviews on the last chaper. It was nice to see that so many of you stuck around even with the long break. I hope this chapter was worth the wait.


	23. Chapter 23 Epilogue

Starting Over – Epilogue

"Ladies and Gentleman," Admiral Janeway began. "I would like to welcome you all to Utopia Planitia for the relaunch of the Federation Starship Voyager.

"It has been just over a year since we finally returned to the Alpha Quadrant using the coaxial warp drive. The rescue ships that met us were so afraid that Voyager was going to break into pieces that they started doing emergency beam outs of our crew. Luckily B'Elanna and Harry weren't among the first beamed off and were able to stabilize the ship quickly and avert any disasters."

The Admiral looked around as the crowd laughed and smiled at those who worked so hard to bring them home. As they quieted again, she continued. "Today, I can guarantee that the ship is not going to fall apart or explode. Not only is Voyager ready to relaunch today, but we have four more ships with the coaxial drive that will be operational within the next sixty days.

"Commander Torres, Lieutenant Kim and their team of engineers have worked diligently over the last ten months, not only to perfect the technology, but to replicate it for widespread use within the Federation starting with survey and scout ships. Additionally, Mr. Paris has been training the pilots on the unique characteristics of the drive, ensuring that many of the human errors we made on the flight home are not repeated."

Taking a moment, the Admiral again looked around the crowd and measured the mood before continuing. "Rather than a long technical discussion on the science behind the new drive, let us take a little ride and see what it can do. I'll leave that technical discussion for the engineers after we get back."

The crowd laughed again as they eagerly awaited Tom backing the ship out of the Utopia Planitia dock and bringing the new drive online for a couple hundred light year demonstration jump.

Later, after the triumphant test, everyone gathered aboard a conference room set up for the celebratory reception. The successful crew enjoyed the food and the mingling with all the high level guests who had been invited for the launch. But, as always happens at a function of this nature the engineers and the admirals separated into their own conversation groups. It was then that they pinned Harry down while B'Elanna and Tom conversed with his father and a few other admirals.

"So," Harry stated to the group of engineers surrounding him, "We've got dates available for wagers on their engagement and for their wedding."

There was some laughter from the back and a few of the engineers turned around and then seemed to disappear as they quickly found other places they needed to be in the room. Apparently they subjects of discussion had not been as involved in the conversation with Tom's father as Harry had hoped. With the engineers gone, Harry could see who was laughing and he felt like running as well, but B'Elanna's stare pinned him in place. Tom kept laughing as he took in the look of absolute terror on his friend's face.

After a few moments, Tom decided to take pity on his friend and said, "You do realize she's not going to attack you in the middle of a party."

Harry didn't even breathe as B'Elanna's face suddenly looked very Klingon with the feral smirk on her face. "No fair Tom," She practically growled. "You shouldn't ruin all my fun."

Tom casually draped his left arm over B'Elanna's shoulders before leaning in to say in a pseudo whisper, "Can we confiscate the credits again? If the stakes are as high as the last betting pool we could pay for the whole honeymoon with them."

Harry took a closer look at his friends and realized that he had missed one very important piece of information. Judging by the rings adorning their left ring fingers the proposed wager had already been satisfied.

* * *

Thank you for sticking with me through this journey. I have enjoyed writting this story, even if I had to take a little time off for life commitments. I'm sorry to see that this is over, but happy that I can finally click that complete button.

I've had several people ask if I will be writing anything else. At this time, I have no plans for additional stories.


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